All for One
by Vesvius
Summary: Naruto might be hated by the villagers, but he has been accepted by a much more important group in Konoha: The thirteen primary clans of the ninja. Not only that, he's been adopted by them. Meet Naruto, heir of the fourteen clans! NaruHarem. Runner Up!
1. Adoption

A/N: I can tell what you guys are thinking. "YOU WROTE ANOTHER STORY, AND YOU HAVEN'T FINNISHED ANY OF YOUR OTHERS!" Yeah, I know. But I really wanted to write this, as have a couple of other people. Oh, and if I hadn't written this, none of my other stories would have been updated for a while, as I really wanted to write this.

I give you, All for One!

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Naruto. Never have, never will, and all that neat stuff.

**Important Note: **This is an Alternate Universe (AU) story. The main differences are that Naruto has a family (a huge family!), and that the younger generation graduates when they are 15, not twelve. Enjoy!

* * *

"I give you, your savior!" Sarutobi said, holding the baby out in front of him. Inside, he was smiling. He had just proclaimed Uzumaki Naruto as the jailor of Kyuubi, protector of Konoha, as appointed by the now dead fourth Hokage. Now the village would see Naruto as the hero he was, for without him, it would have been impossible to save Konoha. The Yondaime had needed a newborn baby, and only this one had been born today. Without Naruto, Konoha wouldn't exist any longer. Sarutobi prepared to allow Naruto to bask in the cheers of the public. 

What he got was very different. A villager muttered, "So that's the Kyuubi?"

Another one spoke up. "So it's not dead!"

A third villager yelled, "Kill it while it's weak!" And before any of the ninja could react, the crowd became an angry mob.

Sarutobi clutched Naruto closer to him, protecting him from the villagers grasping hands. His mind was reeling in shock. He had never expected this to happen! The villagers were turning on their savior, and would kill him if given the chance. Sarutobi tried to reason with them. "He is not the Kyuubi!" But the mob wasn't listening, and was trying to kill the boy. Sarutobi didn't want to give this call, it would terrify the villagers, but he had no choice. "ANBU! Crowd Control!"

In a flash, the ANBU, Konoha's elite black ops squadron, moved in to halt the crowd. Some chuunin were helping, and the Jounin were pushing back a good portion of the crowd. A gennin team was trying to assist as well. There was a boy with brown haired one with a scar over his nose, a young female with red eyes, and a male with shoulder-length silver hair.

Unfortunately, the later of the three gennin was either siding with the villagers or was over enthusiastic. He took up a place in front of the Hokage, where the rabble was thickest, and began beating them off. But one of his flailing arms knocked the baby out of Sarutobi's arms, and right into the middle of the mob. Sarutobi might have imagined it, but he swore he saw a sadistic smirk on the gennin's face.

"Mizuki, you clumsy oaf!" The gennin's Jounin sensei yelled. "Iruka, catch him!" The other boy gennin on the team dived for the baby, but was knocked away by the crowd. As Sarutobi and almost all the ninja in attendance watched in shocked horror, the baby was caught by someone in the middle of the mob.

But the person who caught him wasn't a villager. In fact, he wasn't even a normal shinobi. Once the villagers realized who caught him, they all shied away from the man they recognized on sight. For with his milky white eyes and cold, regal features, it was impossible to not recognize Hyuuga Hiashi.

One of the braver villagers edged up to the Hyuuga clan head. "Good catch, sir. Now we give you the pleasure of finishing of the demon yourself!" But he backed away at the cold glare Hiashi was sending at him.

"If I heard Hokage-san correctly, this infant only contains the Kyuubi. It is not the fox itself." Hiashi said in cold monotone. Everything about that man was cold. "It would be foolish to kill him. That could release the fox." At that, the villagers blanched in fright. Hiashi walked up towards the pavilion the Hokage was standing on. "Hokage-san, I wish to speak with you in private."

The Hokage agreed instantly. He and Hiashi had always gotten along well, if he could tolerate the 'Hokage-san' instead of the traditional 'Hokage-sama'. But Sarutobi had no idea what Hiashi was going to ask.

* * *

Once they were alone in his office with Naruto, his question was instantly answered. "Hokage-san, I wish to adopt Naruto into the Hyuuga clan. He will not be safe by himself. The common rabble outside will forget the fright I just placed in them, and be screaming for his blood this time tomorrow. Plus, he is young enough to undergo the ritual of adoption and attunement, so he will gain our bloodline limit." 

Sarutobi rocked back in his chair, attempting to hide the great shock he had just been given. Not only was Hiashi, the coldest and most reclusive clan head anywhere, suggesting that he adopt Naruto, but he was also suggesting that the boy undergo the ritual of adoption and attunement! That ritual was how clans were originally formed!

In the beginning, only one person had the bloodline of a specific clan. One person originally held the Byakugan, and another held the Inuzaka dog gift, and another had bugs living under their skin, and so on and so forth. Then one particularly gifted shinobi had come up with the jutsu that was now known as the ritual of adoption and attunement. It involved minor blood transfusions, then a complicated technique which had the small amount of blood pass on it's unique characteristics to the rest of the blood. That was how the modern day clans were formed. Well, all except the Uchiha. They had evolved from the Hyuuga, and had been forced to make their clan without the ritual. Sarutobi wasn't clear on the specifics, but he knew that the first Uchiha head was known for his five wives and all of them were usually walking around with big smiles on their faces.

All in all, Hiashi's offer was extremely good. Naruto would be a member of the most prestigious clan of Konoha, and brought up to be an extremely good shinobi. Then a worry crossed the Hokage's mind. "Which house would he be in?"

Instantly, Hiashi grasped the Hokage's concerns. "Main house."

That fixed one worry. "And are your elders in accordance with your plan?" Like all clans, the Hyuuga had a council of elders that gave advice and held as much power as the clan head. But unlike most of the other clans, the Hyuuga elders were much more willing to use their power.

"By the time they figure it out, it will be too late." Hiashi said, with something that bordered on an emotion coming into his voice. Sarutobi shook his head to clear it. He had to have imagined that. Hiashi couldn't possibly sound satisfied!

Sarutobi grinned, all of his worries dispelled. "Well, then, I see-" he began, but was interrupted by his secretary entering the room.

"Hokage-sama!" she spoke out rapidly. "This- This has never happened before! It's impossible for them all to be here! It's impossible!"

Sarutobi made a soothing gesture. "Calm down, Mihale-chan. Who's here?"

"All of other twelve clan heads!" she stammered out. Sarutobi inhaled deeply. The only other time all of the thirteen clan heads had gathered, war had been about to break out.

"Send them in. Immediately!" Sarutobi snapped. Mihale nodded, then exited the room.

The doors opened wide, and twelve people walked in. There was the pink-haired, emerald eyed Haruno Kosumo, leader of the Haruno. Next was the dark haired and brooding Uchiha Fuguku, lord of the Uchiha clan. The third head to enter was wearing dark glasses, and had a high collar. That signified him as Aburame Shibi, leader of the bug wielders. After him was the red-eyed man, Yuuhi Iriai, leader of the clan full of Konoha's foremost genjutsu specialists. The intimidating woman known as Inuzaka Nidaho followed him, and she was followed by her large dog.

Coming after the dog was Sarutobi's own brother, Sarutobi Goitro, who had taken over for Sarutobi as leader of his clan. Then came Yamanaka Inoichi, Nara Shikaku, and Akamichi Chouza, leaders of their clans, and the best of friends. Then came the leaders of the three lesser known clans. There was Tenoshi, leader of the Shinkotama clan that was famous for their weapon skills. Then there was Mitarashi Torahi, who's clan was the only one that held any bonds with the mythical dragons anymore. Finally, the youngest of the group, was Hatake Kakashi, the new (as his father had died a few years ago) leader of the Hatake, Konoha's premier assassins.

As was customary, they all waited a minute for the fourteenth clan head, the leader of the Uzumaki clan. But all, save one family, of the Uzumaki had been destroyed years ago. And that family had always had one boy born to them. It was as if they were all unable to have female children, or more then one. So the Uzumaki clan had been slowly dieing for years. But they had been the most powerful clan. They had been masters of sealing jutsus, and almost all of their clan jutsus had had to do with Spirals, Sealing or Summoning. The Uzumaki had been so powerful that even now, with the last remaining member being a baby already in the room, the thirteen heads waited for a moment just to make sure that one wouldn't be arriving. After it was clear that no Uzumaki was coming, all of the clan heads turned to the Hokage.

Fuguku stepped forward, so he was slightly ahead of the others. "Hokage-sama, it has come to our attention that Hiashi-san is planning on adopting the young Uzumaki into the Hyuuga clan. He waited for the Hokage's answering nod. "Well, I believe that would be a problem. You see, we all desire the same thing. Naruto would be a great benefit to the Uchiha clan."

Haruno Kosumo looked at the Uchiha in disgust. "We all wish to adopt Naruto-kun, but some of us just want to see him raised like a boy, not a tool or a 'benefit.'"

Fuguku snorted. "Regardless of our motives, we each wish to adopt him. And that presents a problem."

"I believe the Hyuugas have precedence, as I have saved this child from certain death." Hiashi stated. At that, all of the clan heads began arguing furiously.

The Hokage was now gaping in shock. All thirteen of Konoha's most prominent clans were arguing over who would raise the boy! They all wanted it badly, from Hyuuga Hiashi, the leader of the most prominent clan, to Shinkotama Tenoshi, whose clan had been under ridicule for not having many special abilities that would be labeled as bloodlines. All thirteen of them wanted this! A devious idea was forming in Sarutobi's mind. It would be excellent for Naruto, good for Konoha, and get these annoying leaders out of his office so he could get to work!

He slammed his hand on the desk, silencing the clan heads effectively. "All thirteen of you want the same thing, correct?" Without hesitation, all thirteen people nodded. "Then I believe this falls under the Rule of the Nidaime." All the clan heads gaped at him.

Back in the Nidaime's reign, the clans had frequently desired the same thing, whether it be territory, abilities, or techniques. That often led to outright fighting in the streets, and severely weakened. So he had declared that if all of the clans wanted the same thing, they would be forced to share it, no matter what it was.

Kakashi stepped forward. "Are you actually suggesting that we share this boy?" The Hokage nodded. Kakashi thought for a moment. "That would actually make a great deal of sense. Naruto would get the powers and abilities of the fourteen most powerful clans in Konoha, which would make him one of the most powerful ninja around. Also, he would be extremely loyal to the village, as loyalty here is one of the traits all of us share. Finally, it would cut this discussion short. I agree to your idea, Hokage-sama."

All of the other clan heads were shocked. The youngest among them, who was only there because there was no one else among his clan to represent them, had provided a very accurate summation of all of the good parts of the Hokage's plan. It really had no drawbacks that they could think of. Now the only thing standing in their way was the pride of twelve clan heads.

Goitro, the Hokage's brother, nodded his head. "I agree with Hatake-san. I will agree to this." Slowly, all of the clan heads began nodding their agreement, until only two were left: Hiashi and Fuguku.

The two were engaged in a stare down. It was no secret that the two clans detested each other, and hated giving concessions to each other. Then, at the same time, both nodded, giving their consent simultaneously. Sarutobi smiled. "OK then. Meet me and Naruto downstairs in the alter room." All buildings had an alter to Kami in it, so that they might all pay tribute to him. It was also where adoption rituals took place. The Hokage rose, and carried the sleeping Naruto out of the office. A moment later, the clan heads followed him.

* * *

By the time they made it to the alter room, Sarutobi had already set up the ritual. The candles where in the correct places, the runes drawn, and thirteen small ritual daggers were placed around Naruto, who was lying in the center of the room. The baby had just woken up, and was looking around in confusion. 

After a moment, the clan heads surrounded Naruto in a loose circle. They each picked up one of the daggers, and examined it. They were, of course, flawless. They were also designed to draw blood quickly, and cause a minimum of pain. Hiashi decided that if he couldn't just adopt Naruto by himself, he could at least go first. He rolled up his sleeve, and, using the ceremonial dagger, slashed his palm.

Blood instantly welled up in the palm, and he clenched his hand to make it pool. Then Hiashi spoke the ritual words. "I, Hyuuga Hiashi, adopt Uzumaki Naruto into the clan of Hyuuga. May he be a proud member of the clan." He then used the silver dagger to poke a small hole in Naruto's shoulder, and dripped some of his blood in it. As soon as he was sure that some went in, he began the seals for the adoption and attunement jutsu. As soon as the last was done, he touched the index finger of his non-bleeding hand to Naruto's shoulder, and cried "**_Setsozoku! _**(Join)" There was a flash of light, and Naruto changed. His blonde hair developed black streaks, and for a moment, the white of the Byakugan shone in his eyes before it turned back to his regular blue. "Welcome, Hyuuga Uzumaki Naruto." Then Hiashi stepped back, his part complete.

Never one to be shown up by his rival for long, Fuguku stepped forward next, his palm already bleeding. "I, Uchiha Fuguku, adopt Hyuuga Uzumaki Naruto into the clan of Uchiha. May he be a proud member of the clan." He dripped blood into the hole already in Naruto, then went into the handseals for the jutsu. Once he touched Naruto's forehead, Naruto's eyes, for a brief moment, turned the red of the Sharingan, then reverted back to blue. "Welcome, Hyuuga Uchiha Uzumaki Naruto." Then he stepped back and joined Hiashi.

The other eleven clan heads began to do their part in the ritual. When Kosumo finished his part, Naruto's hair turned pink, then back to it's black/blonde hybrid. After Tenoshi finished his part, Naruto flexed his leg, easily putting it behind his head. He had become double jointed, like all Shinkotamas. Then Goitro performed the jutsu, and Naruto's arms and legs lengthened a small amount. The Inuzaka matriarch was next, and her adoption jutsu didn't do anything to Naruto physically. However, a small puppy was placed next to him, also just born. The puppy immediately nuzzled into Naruto.

Shikaku went up next, and after his jutsu, Naruto's shadow moved a little. After Chouza's jutsu, Naruto put on a little weight. After Inoichi performed his jutsu, Naruto's face thinned slightly. The next one to perform his jutsu was Aburame Shibi, and it had the most surprising results. After he performed it, a couple of centipedes crawled into the hole as well. At the looks everyone was giving him, Shibi said, "I'm as surprised as you are. Ordinarily, it's kikai and many more then that. But they won't have any effects on Naruto, and you won't even know that they're there unless he needs them." The heads continued to stare at him, but this time because no one ever really heard him speak before.

The Yuuhi clan head was the next to perform the jutsu, and afterwards, Naruto's eyes turned a distinct shade of purple instead of his natural blue or the Yuuhi's red. Torahi, of the Mitarashi, went up next. His jutsu caused a coiling dragon birthmark to appear around Naruto's bicep. Finally, Kakashi went up with his hand bleeding.

"I, Hatake Kakashi, adopt Hyuuga Uchiha Haruno Shinkotama Sarutobi Inuzaka Nara Akamichi Yamanaka Aburame Yuuhi Mitarashi Uzumaki Naruto into the clan of the Hatake. May he be a proud member of the clan." After the jutsu, a small streak of Naruto's hair turned silver. "Welcome, Hyuuga Uchiha Haruno Shinkotama Sarutobi Inuzaka Nara Akamichi Yamanaka Aburame Yuuhi Mitarashi Hatake Uzumaki Naruto."

The thirteen clan heads and the Hokage surveyed the changed baby. Before the ceremony, Naruto had been an average sized baby with blonde hair and blue eyes. Now his hair was blonde, but streaked with black and silver. He was already as big as some babies who were one year old, due to the combined gifts of the Sarutobi and the Akamichi. His eyes were a dark shade of purple, and his face had a somewhat more aristocratic build. He had a dragon shaped birthmark around his right bicep, and he was now double jointed. Naruto was a very changed baby.

Hiashi turned to the others. "We shall now swear pact. We shall protect this boy from all who threaten him, and each raise him in a matter befitting our clans." Everyone nodded, even Fuguku (though he did it grudgingly).

Kakashi walked over to the new baby that was his new adopted son. "He's a tough one." He said with a chuckle.

All of the other clan heads exchanged glances. Once again, the youngest among them had pointed out something they had missed. Naruto had just gone through thirteen adoption and attunement ceremonies. One ceremony made a baby scream in pain. But Naruto was unique.

Throughout the thirteen ceremonies, he had not cried once.

* * *

A/N: So, what do you think? R&R! 


	2. Training

A/N: Wow. I mean, seriously, wow. Almost sixty reviews on the first chapter! This is very encouraging! Well, I also got my first flame, but that's beside the point. Time for some review responces:

Lord Skoonie: No, the clans aren't one, they just couldn't decide on who would adopt Naruto. To avoid interclan war, the Hokage simply made them all do it.

Underdark Ranger: I'm sorry you feel that way. Keep in mind it's possible to express disaproval without insults. Thank you.

Everyone who commented on the incest thing: That will be adressed in this chapter. It was actually one of my favorite scenes to write.

Everyone who commented on the last name: Yeah, that cracked me up too. But I will be shortening it back to Uzumaki most of the time as it's way too much to type every time.

Everyone Else: Thanks for reviewing! And I'm glad I was the first to think of this idea!

Finally, I'm going to tell you how old some people are in reference to Naruto. Hana, Anko, and Kurenai are three years older andHanabi is two years younger. Also, Temari is going to be in the Harem (Come one! Anyone who's read my other stories could tell you I love Naru/Tem). If I can think of a logical way to do it, I might even stick in Tayuya and Kin.

Oh, and this chapter is about 5000 words without the author's note. Enjoy!

* * *

Five Years Later 

"Hi, Hiashi-tou-san!" Naruto cried. Hiashi winced at the volume, something far above what most toddlers could achieve. Of course, Naruto was definitely not average. "What're we doing today, Hiashi-tou-san?" As Naruto stared at him expectantly, the normally cold Hyuuga head couldn't help but chuckle.

He had started doing that a lot since he met Naruto. As a baby, the boy was always grabbing everything he could, which led to embarrassing situations with the current maid at the Hyuuga compound. He also had been extremely convenient, as he and his constant wailing had gotten Hiashi out of countless meetings with branch house members, the council, and occasionally the Hokage.

Hiashi would have liked nothing better then to raise Naruto himself, but unfortunately, the other heads wouldn't allow it. Naruto was part of their clans as well, and any one clan that raised him would be being unfair to the others. Not that any of them wouldn't have done it if they could have gotten away with it.

So with all of the clans dickering over who would raise him, the Hokage had been forced to step in and appoint a neutral guardian to look over Naruto. 'Picked a pretty good one as well.' Hiashi thought, as he looked up from Naruto to the scarred visage of Naruto's caretaker, Morino Ibiki.

The Morino had once been a great clan too, being Konoha's premier interrogators and psychology analysts. But they had all been involved in an inter-clan war between the Morino and the Gekkou. Both clans had killed each other off until only one member was left on each side, and they were only alive because they had been best friends. Those two were Ibiki and Gekkou Hyate.

"Naruto-kun, please go play with Hinata while we talk for a moment." Hiashi said. Naruto nodded, waved goodbye to 'Ibiki-nii-san', and went off to great his foster sister. Hiashi turned to Ibiki. "How has he been?"

"It's been relatively uneventful, except for another two assassination attempts. Thanks again for the bodyguard. Hizashi is most helpful." Ibiki said. Hiashi nodded his acknowledgment, and motioned for Ibiki to continue. "Naruto has also begun to," Ibiki looked from side to side, to make sure no one was within hearing range. "manifest."

Hiashi started in shock. When a child began to manifest, they were starting to show bloodline traits. "Which ones?" He asked urgently.

"Well, he was talking with a centipede the other day, which scared the crap out of me for a minute." Ibiki said, shivering. It was a little known fact in Konoha that their premier interrogator was terrified of bugs. "He started yelling in pain once, and veins were throbbing around his eyes. Oh, and sometimes he starts talking with someone that isn't their."

Shock was concealed behind Hiashi's cold face. 'He's manifesting the Byakugan, the Aburame Bug Contract, and the Haruno Inner Persona, all at the same time! Naruto has a lot of raw talent. I wasn't able to access the Byakugan until I was eight, and he's doing it at five!' "Ibiki-san, you will be seeing less of Naruto in the next little while. He needs immediate training with us, the Haruno, and the Aburame." Ibiki nodded in understanding. "Right now, Hokage-san will want to be informed of this, so I'll take Naruto and his contingent to the tower straight away." Ibiki nodded once again, then spun around and headed off in the direction of the prison.

Hiashi looked at the small knot of people that Ibiki left behind. There was one from every clan Naruto was a member of, including his own brother Hizashi. They were Naruto's bodyguard. Ever since the day the villagers had discovered he held the kyuubi with in him, Naruto's life had been put in constant danger. First, a maid had tried to kill the boy when he went to recover from the adoption ceremony. Then, a week later, a gennin decided that it would kill the demon. The attempts continuously escalated, until the villagers had started pooling their money to hire foreign ninja to assassinate him.

After the first Jounin from Suna had tried to kill him, and would have succeeded if Ibiki hadn't intervened, it had become necessary to appoint an actual bodyguard. They contained the best and brightest from the thirteen clans, all sworn not to let petty clan issues interfere with the protection of their charge. There were the old, like Chouza's father, Akamichi Chodo, to the young, likethirteen year old Uchiha Itachi. And together, the thirteen of them looked after Naruto like a bunch of doting old uncles (or cousins or brothers) that would kill anyone who raised a hand to him. Hiashi made a hand signal, and the group formed a loose perimeter on the rooftops around the park.

Hiashi walked over to the sandbox, where Naruto and his foster sister Hinata were making a sand castle. He got there just in time to hear Naruto say, "This is the biggest one we've ever made, Hinata-chan! Now we should add some windows!" Hiashi couldn't help but let out a small chuckle at Naruto's exuberance. Naruto spun around and beamed at his (one of many) foster father. "Hi again, Hiashi-tou-san! What're we doing today?"

Quickly, Hiashi slapped back on his cold façade. "Today, Naruto-kun, we're going to the Hokage's. Then, we're going to be beginning you ninja training."

"COOL!" Naruto yelled. Hiashi winced. Sometimes, if he hadn't been there, he would have doubted that this was a member of the Hyuuga clan. Hyuuga were usually cold, tactful, and above all, quiet. Naruto was as warm as a sunny day, blunt as a club, and loud enough to break eardrums. Shaking his head, Hiashi motioned for Naruto and Hinata to follow him, and they began to walk to the Hokage tower.

* * *

Once they got there, Hiashi quickly explained the situation. The Hokage grinned. "Well, Naruto-kun, you show great potential to be shinobi. We'll be starting your training soon. But before we do that, are you sure you want to be a shinobi? It's a hard and dangerous life, with little reward." 

Naruto thought about it for a minute, a look of serious concentration looking very strange on his five year old face. "I don't want to a ninja." The Hokage looked down in disappointment. "I want to be the best ninja ever! I'm gonna kick everyone's butts, so no one tries to hurt me anymore!"

Hiashi and Naruto looked stunned by the declaration, while Hinata only gave out a small smile. She might not know much of what the people were talking about, but she did know her brother. Any challenge that he was given was quickly laughed at, then beaten.

"I thought you might say that." The Hokage said, then reached into a drawer in his desk and withdrew a scroll. "This is your new training schedule. Understandably, every single one of your families took it upon themselves to help you out." He handed the scroll over, and Naruto hastily broke the seal and thanked Kami that Ibiki had taught him how to read. He scanned the contents, and felt his jaw dropping.

The Schedule Read:

5:00 AM- 6:00 AM: Taijutsu with Sarutobi Clan

6:00 AM- 7:00 AM: Stealth and Tracking with Hatake Clan

7:00 AM- 8:00 AM: Chakra Control with Hyuuga Clan

8:00 AM- 9:00 AM: Psychology with Yamanaka Clan

9:00 AM- 10:00 AM: Animal Training with Inuzaka Clan

10:00 AM- 11:00 AM: Nature Studies with Aburame Clan

11:00 AM- 12:00 PM: Genjutsu with Yuuhi Clan

12:00 PM- 1:00 PM: Lunch with Akamichi Clan

1:00 PM- 2:00 PM: Tutoring with Haruno Clan

2:00 PM- 3:00 PM: Strategy with Nara Clan

3:00 PM- 4:00 PM: Weapons with Shinkotama Clan

4:00 PM- 5:00 PM: Ninjutsu with Uchiha Clan

5:00 PM- 6:00 PM: Anatomy with the Mitarashi Clan

As Naruto read through his schedule, he began to feel tired just looking at the amount of work he would have to do. "Oji-san, when am I going to get to sleep? Or make friends, or have fun?" He asked.

"Naruto-kun, this training will make you by far the best Ninja ever. You'll get to sleep after you're done with it. Besides, you'll be making friends while you train. Any clans that have children will be teaching them when they teach you. I understand that most of them have kids, except for the Sarutobi and the Hatake. And my son's wife is expecting, so there will be a child there too, soon." The Hokage answered. "As for having fun, I'd be surprised if you didn't enjoy your training very much." At this, Naruto's smile returned full force.

"Naruto-kun, I suggest you go home now and rest up. You'll be working very hard tomorrow. Take Hinata with you, and drop her off at the Hyuuga compound please." Hiashi said. Naruto nodded, then ran out the door. Hiashi and Sarutobi waited for a minute until they heard his footsteps die down.

"Now, Hiashi-san, what is the thing you have to tell me that you don't want Naruto and Hinata to hear?" the Hokage asked.

Hiashi let out a sigh. "There were two more assassination attempts on Naruto within the last twenty-four hours. I managed to get the specifics from Hizashi and Itachi on our way here. Yesterday, at lunch, someone attempted to slip a high-grade poison into Naruto's ramen. It was unsuccessful for one reason: the Akamichi. They can tell whenever something has been done to food, and Choda managed to stop Naruto from eating in time." The Hokage let out a sigh of relief.

"And the second one?"

"That one was more… direct. Late last night, a team of six Jounin from grass attacked Naruto's house. Three were killed by the traps Ibiki set up, while the bodyguard took care of the other half."

"I… see. How many attempts does this make?"

"According to last count, Seventy-Three."

The Hokage let out a long sigh of his own. "I will draft a letter to the minor villages that we can intimidate stating that any attack on Naruto constitutes a declaration of War on Konoha. That will stop the minor villages, but if I send it to the major ones, they will just try to do it on their own and frame someone else."

Hiashi nodded. "Thank you, Hokage-san. For right now, we of the thirteen clans will make sure that Naruto can defend himself." After that serious statement, the Hyuuga head remembered something that he had been told to ask the Hokage, and his face turned bright red. "Um, Hokage-san, there is one other matter."

The Hokage raised an eyebrow at the current coloring of Hiashi. "And what would that be?"

"You, knowing all of the jutsus in Konoha and being a master of them all, would know the answer to this question. The adoption and attunement jutsu, how closely does it relate the subject to the caster?" He asked. The Hokage just looked at him for a moment. "I mean, say, Naruto. I look after him like I would my son, but how closely related to me is he?"

"Why do you ask that? I've heard that any not closely related to the clan head get relegated to the branch house. Is that why you-"

"No, nothing like that! It's just that… well, my wife wants to marry Naruto to one of my daughters. She said something along the lines of 'good breeding stock', and I'm worried that if he is related as closely to me as a son, that that would be… incestuous." Hiashi stammered out.

The Hokage suppressed a chuckle. "Ok, Hiashi, I will put you worries to rest. What the adoption and attunement jutsu does is augments the subjects blood, chakra, and body to somewhat mimic that of the caster while still retaining his original traits. So, it just took Naruto's Uzumaki blood and morphed it to be more like yours." Seeing that Hiashi wasn't comprehending, the Hokage decided to explain it mathematically, the one way all Hyuugas understood. "You do know fractions, right?" Hiashi nodded. "So let's imagine Naruto in fractions. Let's say he has, maybe one hundred parts, all originally Uzumaki." Hiashi nodded again.

"What the adoption and attunement ritual does is change one, at most two, of those parts. So when you performed the ritual on Naruto, he became 98 percent Uzumaki and 2 percent Hyuuga. The same happened with the other rituals. So, Naruto is at least, 74 percent Uzumaki. He is as directly related to you, as maybe, your wife's cousin's mother's aunt's grandchild is. If he marries Hinata, or more likely Hanabi as he sees Hinata like a best friend, there would be nothing incestuous about it." Sarutobi explained.

Hiashi let out another sigh, this one of relief. "Thank you, Hokage-san. You've been most helpful." At that, he turned and exited the room.

The Hokage grinned at Hiashi's back. 'Good luck Hiashi, because you are the seventh clan head to ask me that.'

* * *

The next morning, Ibiki woke Naruto up at 4:30 in the morning. "Good morning, Naruto-kun. You have enough time to eat and get a shower before you head off to the Sarutobi compound." Naruto nodded groggily, then crawled out of his little bed to get dressed. 

At exactly Five O'clock, Naruto arrived at the Sarutobi compound. A big, muscular man in a training outfit met him at the door. "On time! Good!" he said.

"Goki-nii-san! So you're training me today?"

"For the next hour. Oh, and before we start, I'm going to have to ask you to call me Goki-sensei. After we're done, you can go back nee-san. Ok?" Goki asked. After Naruto nodded, Goki said "Then follow me to the dojo."

After a few minutes of walking, they arrived at the Sarutobi dojo. "Naruto, what's Taijutsu?" Goki asked.

"When you fight with your fists and feet!" Naruto exclaimed.

"So just punching someone in a street fight is Taijutsu?" he asked. When Naruto nodded, Goki shook his head. "Wrong." When Naruto looked at him in confusion, he said "That, Naruto, we call brawling. Taijutsu is about fighting to win. Every move should be something that is out to disable if not kill your opponent. If it's not aimed to at least disable, it should be there to build up for another move that should. Every punch, kick, or even headbutt, should be used to aim to win. Do you understand?" Naruto thought for a moment, then nodded.

"Ok, Naruto. There are countless styles of Taijutsu, and eventually you will be learning quite a few. But for now, we should just work on your overall fighting. Here, punch that bag." He gestured to a punching bag hanging from the ceiling of the dojo. Naruto walked up to it, and got in a fighting stance. He punched the bag, then paused, then punched it again.

"Stop!" Goki commanded. "You leave too much of an opening between punches. Anyone with half a brain could find that hole!" So for the next hour, Goki tried to correct some of the major flaws with Naruto's hand-to-hand fighting skills. Some were obvious, like his punching speed. But others were more subtle, like the fact that when he punched with his left hand, he usually hooked it.

At two minutes before six, Goki stopped him. "Naruto, next up, head to the Hatake compound. Kakashi himself will be teaching you stealth." Naruto nodded.

"Hai, sensei!" he shouted, and took off as fast as his five-year old legs could carry him. Soon enough, he was undergoing stealth and tracking training. That pretty much entailed a giant game of hide and go seek, only when Naruto was found, he was given pointers on what he did wrong. After the hour-long session, Naruto was able to hide from Kakashi for almost three minutes before being caught.

Then it was off to the Hyuuga compound, where Hiashi briefed Naruto on what chakra was, and how to control it involving handseals. "Now, Naruto-kun, try to muster up your chakra."

"Which seal should I use?" Naruto asked.

Hiashi thought about it for a moment. "For you, I'd recommend ram."

Naruto nodded, then placed his hands in the Ram Seal and tried to call up his chakra. The result almost blew Hiashi away, as a bright blue aura manifested itself around Naruto and a wind blew out from him. It was one of the strongest manifestations he had ever seen! "Naruto! Stop!" he yelled over the wind. Naruto instantly let the seal go, then looked up at Hiashi.

"How did I do, Hiashi-sensei?" he asked. He had been told to call everyone sensei in training, no matter what their relation to him was outside of training.

"W-Well, Naruto-kun, it is clear that you have a lot of chakra." Hiashi stammered out. Then he put his normal look back on and said, "So now, we focus on control. Try to focus all of your chakra onto your left hand." Naruto complied, and the bright blue aura was confined to the space around his hand.

"Now force it out through your palm." Hiashi commanded, and there was a stream of chakra flowing out of Naruto's palm.

"Time for the control exercise. Take this leaf, and try to use chakra to make it hove two inches from your hand." He put a leaf on Naruto's hand, and Naruto began to expel chakra. The leaf rocketed up, finally stopping a good two feet in the air. Naruto frowned, and lessened his chakra output. The leaf lowered slightly. Naruto fiddled with it again, and it blasted up higher then before.

Hiashi went over to explain the exercise to Hinata, who was taking the lesson with them. She got it instantly, so Hiashi went back to watch Naruto struggle. At the end of the hour, Naruto had managed to get his output down to one foot worth of chakra. 'This is going to take a while.'

After Chakra Control, Naruto was off to Psychology with Yamanaka Inoichi. As he got to the Yamanaka house, he was greeted at the door by his friend Ino. "Hi, Ino-nee- I mean Ino-chan!" He wasn't sure why, but last month, a lot of his mothers had told him to think of their daughters as his friends, not his sisters. So he did, except for Hinata, whom he just couldn't get the sister image out of his head with.

"Hi, Naruto-kun!" Ino shouted, waving enthusiastically. "Come on, daddy's in the living room!" She pulled him by the hand to where Inoichi was waiting. They spent the next hour learning all about the human brain. Afterwards, with his own head spinning, Naruto went off to his next lesson with the Inuzakas.

There, he met his friend Kiba. He and Kiba always liked to play tag in the park, and playing pranks on some random villagers. He also saw Hana, Kiba's older sister. She was three years older then Naruto was, but still hung around with him a lot. Hana was also training to be a veterinarian. "Hi, Kiba-nii-san, Hana-chan! Hey, Hana-chan, where is he? Is he okay?"

Hana smiled at Naruto's impatience, not that any of the Inuzaka's were anything else when it came to dealing with their dogs. "He's fine, Naruto-kun. He just ate a little too much too fast, so he threw up. He should be out any minute." As soon as she finished speaking, a small grey dog ran up to Naruto and began licking his face.

"Kouken! I missed you, buddy!" He yelled as he gave his dog a hug. His dog, Kouken, barked back at you. "What do you mean it's my fault!" Naruto shouted. "You're the one who ate too fast!" After a short argument between boy and dog, Hana broke it up.

"Come on! We've go to go train!" she said. Instantly, Naruto and his dog stopped yelling at each other, and went inside the Inuzaka complex, where they were soon being lectured on Animal Training.

'This sounds exactly like Inoichi-tou-san's lesson, only with dogs!' Naruto thought while he struggled to stay awake.

Afterwards, he and Kouken went to the Aburame's home, where Shibi talked about bugs a lot, and how they worked with nature. Every bug had a place in the great cycle of life, from the termites who chewed through trees, to the mosquitoes who bit people and made them itch. Naruto shared this lesson with his friend Shino, who was just like a smaller version of his father.

Next, it was time for Genjutsu Training with the Yuuhi Clan. Naruto entered the area owned by the red-eyed people, and suddenly his vision disappeared. Naruto spent a couple minutes panicking, then just decided to sit down and do nothing, so he wouldn't run into anything. As soon as he sat, his vision returned and he saw a red-eyed man with a young red-eyed girl standing in front of him.

"Hi Iriai-sensei, Kurenai-chan! Why couldn't I see a minute ago?"

The man answered, "Because, Naruto-kun, you were just affected by a genjutsu. Genjutsu attack the senses, and make you believe in illusions."

Naruto thought about that for a minute. "That wasn't fun!"

"But it was the best way to demonstrate a genjutsu." Iriai said. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but you've already had chakra control training today, right?" Naruto nodded. "Then it should be easy to work on dispelling genjutsu."

For the next hour, Iriai told Naruto and Kurenai how to dispel genjutsu. There were two ways: temporarily cutting off your chakra flow, or emitting so much chakra that the genjutsu was forced off. At the end of the lesson, Kurenai was able to pull off the first method with no trouble, and Naruto could do the second quite easily.

Then it was time for the lesson Naruto had been looking forward to most of all. Lunch with the Akamichis. But while he was aloud to gorge himself, he also learned while he was eating. Chouza talked about how to determine what was in your food by how it tasted, and how the tongue remembered something if it tasted it just once. Also, Naruto finally got to ask a question he had been wanting to know the answer to for some time.

"Chouza-sensei, why aren't I fa-, I mean big boned, like the rest of you? I eat just as much, but I don't get any fatt- more big boned."

"Well, Naruto-kun, on an Akamichi, the food gets converted to whatever it is you need. On most of us, it gets converted to fat so we can turn it into energy easily. But on you- I'd better show you. Naruto, punch this table." Chouza commanded.

"Hai!" Naruto yelled, then punched the sturdy oak table they had been eating at. Surprisingly, it splintered.

"On you, Naruto-kun, the food gets changed into muscle, making you much stronger then you should be. Once you start weight training and learning how to use chakra to enhance your punches, I wouldn't be surprised if you could level buildings with three fingers."

"COOL!"

Then it was time for the lesson Naruto was dreading most: tutoring with the Harunos. As soon as Naruto greeted his friend Sakura, and they sat down to be lectured by her father, Naruto put his head down and was sound asleep.

He was awoken ten minutes later by an eraser hitting him on the head. "Naruto! What were we just discussing?" Kosumo asked in a tone of voice that said that he knew Naruto hadn't been paying attention.

Naruto was about to take a wild guess when he heard a voice in his head. _Konoha before the Shodaime! _It whispered. Naruto shrugged, and repeated what the voice had just said. Kosumo looked at him in shock.

"How did you know that! I know you were sound asleep!" Kosumo asked incredulously.

"I'm not really sure. Someone told me to say it, so I did. It seemed like a good idea." At this, Kosumo shook his head.

'I can't believe he's manifesting at this age!' He thought. Then his inner voice chimed in, '_But it sounds kick ass! He's manifesting the Haruno power before most of the others! Take that, Uchiha!_' Kosumo started to explain the Haruno bloodline to Naruto.

"Well, Naruto-kun, that voice you heard was, well, lets call him your 'Inner Naruto'. Every Haruno clan member develops an Inner Persona, which often yells things in your head that you don't want to say out loud. It's pretty annoying, but it's actually pretty helpful. You see, your inner persona never sleeps, so it's always watching your surroundings. It can hold information, so even if your outer persona forgets it, the inner one will remind it. That's why practically all Harunos are excellent scholars. We never forget stuff. The Inner Persona also allows you to focus on two totally different things at the same time, allowing you to effectively multitask. So, did you understand that?" Naruto shook his head, and Kosumo slapped his own forehead.

At this point, Naruto's inner persona decided to speak up. '_He's pretty much saying that I'm here, I know stuff you don't, and I'm damn useful! Got it?_' Naruto shook his head. "I understand, Kosumo-sensei."

Then it was time for the strategy session with Nara Shikaku and his son, Nara Shikamaru. Shikaku was a genius, and Shikamaru was gaining on him quickly despite only being the same age as Naruto. The strategy lessons were pretty much Naruto sitting there, playing games of Shogi and Go against Shikamaru while Shikaku corrected them both when they did something stupid.

Then it was time for the weapons training with the Shinkotamas. At first, Naruto and Ten-Ten, youngest of the Shinkotamas, learned what the weapons were. Afterwards, Naruto could safely assume that there were a lot of weapons, and they all hurt really badly when you were hit with them.

Then Naruto and Ten-Ten practiced with shuriken. Ten-Ten was already pretty good at throwing them, but Naruto simply wasn't getting it. He missed the target entirely over half the time. After a while of missing, he went up to Ten-Ten. "Ten-chan, what am I doing wrong?"

Ten-Ten watched Naruto throw another few shuriken, then corrected him. It turned out that something had been wrong with the placement of his fingers. Naruto thanked her, then went back to throwing.

Watching them from off to the side, Tenoshi was cackling inside his head. 'HAH! My daughter's closer to him then the others! Take that Yuuhi, Haruno, Yamanka, Inuzaka and Hyuuga! Oh, and Mitarashi! TAKE THAT, I'M WINNING!'

After Weapons Training, Naruto ran off to the Uchiha compound for training in the last of the three major jutsu branches: ninjutsu. He was met at the door by a lower-ranking Uchiha. "Come, Naruto-sama." The servile man said. "Your trainer is this way." He walked off, and Naruto followed him.

Soon, they made it to Naruto's new ninjutsu sensei. "Itachi-nii-san! You're my sensei here?"

Itachi cracked a slight grin. "Yes, Naruto-kun. I'm teaching you and Sasuke ninjutsu." Naruto looked over at the other person in the room, a young Uchiha the same age as Naruto. Naruto's face crinkled up in dislike. He and Sasuke had never really gotten along, with Naruto being somewhat closer to Itachi then Sasuke was.

The ninjutsu lesson was pretty interesting. Itachi explained about how chakra and hand seals were used in ninjutsu, then showed them a sample one, called **Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu **(Fire Style: Powerful Flame Technique). He then tried to get Naruto and Sasuke to perform it.

Both were having problems, until Naruto remembered Hiashi's lessons on chakra control, and focusing chakra to one part of your body. Naruto managed to focus all of his chakra to his throat, and blow out a huge fireball. Sasuke looked angry that Naruto got it before he did, but Itachi praised his efforts lavishly.

It was time for the final lesson of the day: Anatomy with the Mitarashi. Naruto made it to the compound quickly, and was placed in a classroom-like setting, with a slightly scary woman standing up at the front of the room. "Ryusha-kaa-san! What good is anatomy?"

Ryusha, matriarch of the Mitarashi, sighed. "First, call me Ryusha-sensei during the lesson. Second, before I explain anything, we need to wait for Anko-chan to get here." They waited for five minutes until a young girl staggered in, panting from running.

"Sorry, Kaa-san. Kurenai and I were playing, and I didn't realize what time it was."

"It's fine, Anko-chan. Just take your seat, and we'll start the lesson." Anko was seated. "Well, Naruto, in answer to your question, I understand you've learned how throw weapons today?" Naruto nodded. "Anatomy teaches you where to throw those weapons. So you can disable instead of kill, kill instead of injure, or humiliate instead. Make sense?" Naruto nodded.

Soon enough, the lesson came to an end. "Ok, Naruto-kun, you can do whatever you want now." Ryusha said.

"Okay! Bye, Ryusha-sensei! See ya later, Anko-chan!" Naruto called as he ran out of the room. As he ran through the village, he tried to decide where to do. 'Home.' He decided. 'I need sleep!' He passed through a group of villagers. "Excuse me!" he yelled as he made his way through.

Once he was through, he added more speed and ran off to his home. The villagers watched him go with a look of disgust on their faces. One turned to another. "The demon is getting bolder. We have to try again."

"But none of the villages we approach will take the mission any more!" the second one said.

The first one grinned a sadistic smile. "So we contact different villages. I understand the Mist specialize in assassinations."

* * *

A/N: That was the next chapter! I hope you liked it, but now I'm asking for polls! 

Poll One: Itachi: Good or Bad?  
Poll Two: Zabuza: Good or Bad?

Tell me which you think I should do. Thanks!


	3. Happy Birthday

A/N: I thought I had seen it all last time. I mean, 63 reviews for chapter one. That's a big number. Well, that is until I looked at Chapter Two's reviews. 105 reviews. That is more then I've gotten for some whole stories! And that brings All for One up to the coveted spot of 'Most Reviewed of My Stories'. I thank each and every person who reviewed. It makes it feel worth it to open my mailbox the day after I post a chapter and have thirty-some e-mail, all of people who loved my story.

As to the polls of last time, the results ofthe Itachi onewill be seen in this chapter (the Zabuza one will be stretched out a little more). I'm still accepting votes for the Zabuza one.

I got a couple request to make a female Uchiha. So let it be done!

I also got a couple requests to make Haku female. Eh, I'm not to sure about that, but I always did have a hard time figuring out what gender (s)he was, so I made her a her. If I put her in the Harem or not remains to be seen. Let me get your thoughts on that. Now, time for a couple review responses!

Neko-Youkai, and the other people who don't like me leaving Hinata out of the Harem: The fact is, NaruHina is fine, as long as it's well written. But the problem here is, I can't write good NaruHina. You might ask why that's important, as this is a NaruHarem fic. But I plan to go much more indepth with the Harem then other authors seem to, and detail their individual relationships. So I can't write good NaruHina. Trust me on that. I've tried.

Anonymuse: Thanks for your concerns about Itachi. They're resolved in this chapter.

SteveLos: Thanks alot for your compliments about my spelling and grammer. It means alot to me, cause I usually just type a chapter, add an authors note, and post it three minutes later (I just finished this chapter five minutes ago, and started it some time this afternoon).

Ken: Thanks. rubs back of head in embarassment I didn't realize that. I do now, and I've gone back and corrected it.

To all those who are skeptical about my NaruHanabi: I always like NaruHanabi fics, I don't know why. I'll do my best to make sure it doesn't screw up the story.

the DragonBard: As this is a huge AU, I figure I can monkey around with a couple more things. Anko and Orochimaru's relationship will be slightlytouched onin this chapter, with more later.

To those who are worried that if I do a good Itachi, it will destroy the Uchiha massacre and eliminate all future bad guys: Don't worry. It's all going to work out. Orochimaru is still around, and I've got plans for bad guys that ARENT OCs.

Finally, I hope you enjoy the many twists I throw in this almost 5000 word, over 10 page chapter! YAY UPDATES!

* * *

It was the tenth of October, the day the Yondaime defeated Kyuubi. There was a large parade, with floats of the yellow-haired hero. There was liberal amounts of sake being consumed, by everyone everywhere. There were little kids staring at the Hokage Monument, swearing that they would be just like the Yondaime. And unnoticed by the drunken guards, there were three figures creeping over the wall.

Momochi Zabuza and his two chunin assistants were in town not to celebrate, but to do their job. And today, their job included killing the now six year old Uzumaki Naruto. 'I hate being in this village.' Zabuza thought. 'It brings back so many bad memories. We've got to get this job done quickly.' Zabuza was worried, because he had been forced to leave Haku back in Kiri while he performed this mission. 'That girl needs to work on her heart of ice before she comes on assassination missions.'

"Ruko, who's the target?" Zabuza asked as they bounded across rooftops. He knew already, but he liked to make sure his back up did as well.

The chunin swallowed, wondering how he got assigned to work with the demon of the mist. "Uzumaki Naruto, a young prodigy."

"What clan?" Zabuza asked. He had never heard of an Uzumaki clan, and he was honestly curious which clan had adopted the boy.

"Umm, the dossier doesn't say, but it says he's been living with a Morino Ibiki."

'Hm. Never heard of a Morino clan before. Must be newly risen to the rank of high clan. At least it's not them.' Zabuza thought. He noticed that they were almost at the address, and halted the chunin. "We're here."

With a keen eye, Zabuza noticed several traps set all over the doors, windows, and walls of the building. 'Hm, guess we weren't the first attempt on this boy.' The two chunin with Zabuza looked at the building, but noticed nothing.

"Zabuza-sama, are we entering?" one asked.

'Idiots.' Zabuza thought. "Yes. You enter first, so you can deal with any resistance. Then you" he gestured at the other chunin, will go in second to aid him in any way possible. Then me. I'll be rearguard." The two nodded, and entered the building in the designated order. In his head, Zabuza counted. 'Five, four, three, two, one.' When his count reached zero, a plume of fire erupted, incinerating the first chunin. The second one was quickly pierced by no less then eight kunai.

'Nice traps! But now, in I go!' Zabuza thought. Then he whispered "**_Mizu Bunshin no Jutsu_** (Water Clone Technique)" and two more Zabuza's appeared out of the water vapor in the air. They entered, followed closely by Zabuza. As soon as he crossed the threshold, he thanked his foresight as he saw both of the water clones being attacked by six bodyguards. 'Wow. This kid is really well protected!' Then both of his clones were destroyed. 'These guys are good.' He thought, and made twenty more clones to keep them busy. As the bodyguard engaged the clones, he slipped up the stairs.

'Now where is it?' He thought, ignoring the sounds of pitched battle coming from below. Zabuza slipped into one of the doors, and grinned as he saw a young boy sleeping soundly, cuddling a puppy. 'Wow, this kid sleeps through everything! Well, easier to kill then. Better do this fast, and avoid the dog. I hate killing dogs!' Zabuza drew Kubikiri Houcho off of his back, and drew it back to decapitate the boy.

But a flash of pain in his right arm caused him to drop the sword. He looked at his arm, and saw a tiny reptilian creature biting it! 'Oh no! Not this clan!' he thought, and spun around, pulling a kunai to slice the creatures off. But before he got the chance, they retracted into the sleeve of his attacker: Mitarashi Ryuto, third most powerful member of the Mitarashi clan.

"Zabuza-kun, how far you've stooped." Ryoto said. "Being paid by angry villagers to kill a small boy. You've fallen far, Mitarashi Zabuza."

Zabuza groaned. "Sister, it's Momochi Zabuza now. I gave up that foolish clan name when I left Konoha and joined Kiri!"

"Didn't you once have a code about not killing family members?" Ryoto asked.

"I still do, but I don't plan on killing you, Ryoto. I'm simply going to incapacitate you, then fulfill my mission."

Ryoto shook her head from side to side, making little tsking noises. "If you still maintain that code, then why are you trying to kill our nephew?"

For the first time in a long time, an emotion crossed Zabuza's face: shock. "Nephew? He's a member of our- I mean, your clan?"

"Is your information so bad that you didn't know that Naruto over there is a member of all of the thirteen clans of Konoha? Yes, he is your nephew, and if you touch him, it will spark a war between Konoha and Kiri."

Zabuza quickly schooled his face back to normal. 'Why didn't we know about this? I'm fairly certain that being adopted into thirteen clans is not a common thing!' Zabuza stooped, never taking his eyes off of his sister, and picked up Kubikiri. He placed it back in it's sheath. "Our information network needs a lot of work then. There is only one thing I refuse to do, and that is kill family. It was nice seeing you, sister." He assumed a handseal, and a think bank of fog wafted in. When it cleared, Zabuza was gone.

Ryoto shook her head, then realized there was still fighting going on downstairs. But as soon as she remembered that, all sounds of battle ended, and Naruto's room was quickly filled with his bodyguard. They were all breathing hard, but most were uninjured. The exception was Aburame Nokoto, who had a deep gash in his side. "Who was that?" Hizashi asked. "He was a cut above the other assassins!"

The Mitarashi bodyguard stated, "That was Mitarashi Zabuza, missing nin of Konoha. He abandoned the village ten years ago, and is now known as Momochi Zabuza, demon of the mist."

Itachi nodded. "That makes sense. He did use all water jutsus, and he did sacrifice his comrades to enter the building."

"I'd better go report this to the Hokage." Ryoto said. "The rest of you, stay on guard. If the mist was smart, they would have sent two forces." The bodyguard nodded, and dispersed. Ryoto jumped out the window, heading to the Hokage tower.

* * *

Zabuza, at this time, as already well out of Konoha. On the outside, he was cool and composed. But on the inside, his head was spinning. 'There was no way our intelligence wouldn't have noticed the fact that the kid was a member of thirteen clans. There is absolutely no way! And they sent me on this mission with only two lousy chunin that they knew I would sacrifice anyway!'

Zabuza growled out loud. "They set me up!" He headed back towards Kiri, where he would be getting Haku and leaving, before they could try again.

* * *

Ibiki sat in Naruto's room, waiting for the boy to wake up. "Well, Naruto." He said to the sleeping boy. "Your birthdays always are eventful."

The next morning, at 4:30, Naruto woke up and saw Ibiki dozing by his bedside. "Hi, Ibiki-nii-san! What're you doing here?"

The loud voice woke Ibiki up. 'Only Naruto could be so loud in the morning.' He thought, and then tried to think of a good excuse for him sitting by Naruto's bedside that didn't involve assassins. "Uh, I just wanted to wish you happy birthday!"

"OH YEAH! I forgot it was my birthday!" Naruto yelled. "Can I have chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast?"

"Of course. I'll get right on them." Ibiki said, then ran out of the room thanking Kami that Naruto still accepted such weak excuses.

* * *

After a breakfast of chocolate chip pancakes, Naruto ran off to begin his training regime. 'Wow, it's already been seven months since I started this stuff! It's been a lot of fun!' He skidded to a halt outside of the Sarutobi compound, where Goki was waiting for him.

"Happy birthday, Naruto-kun!" Goki said.

"Thanks, Goki-sensei! So, what're we gonna do today? Work on forms? Increase my weight?"

Goki chuckled at his student's enthusiasm. "Well, Naruto-kun, since it is your birthday, we'll be doing something new!" His grin widened as Naruto jumped for joy at the news.

"What is it? What is it?" he questioned.

"Naruto-kun, you'll be learning a new style of taijutsu!" Goki said, and Naruto grinned happily.

"Which one? I hope it's a good one, not like that academy stuff." Naruto said the word academy with disgust. He had learned their taijutsu style in a matter of weeks, and had judged it as terrible. It allowed no flexibility, and relied only on punches. Naruto loved surprising people, so needed more flexibility, and had discovered a talent for kicks. He had also learned the gentle fist style from Hiashi, and found it lacking.

"I'm letting you choose one of three styles." Goki said. "Your choices are Iron Fist style, the Shimmering Foot Style, or the Slashing Falcon style."

Naruto thought for a moment. He didn't really like punching, and the first style had the word fist in it, so the Iron Fist was out. But both the Slashing Falcon and the Shimmering Foot sounded interesting. It was time for Naruto's tired and true method of making hard choices: putting it to a vote. He had three people to ask. "Goki-sensei, which is better for you, the Shimmering Foot or the Slashing Falcon?"

Goki thought for a minute. "I prefer the Shimmering Foot myself."

The next person to ask was himself. 'Yo! Me! Which one's better?' Almost instantly, Inner Naruto answered. '_Slashing Falcon! Up in the sky, slashing, like a falcon! Sounds damn useful and fucking awesome!_' 'I just asked a question. No need for cursing!'

'Ok, that's one for each. Time for the tie breaker.' "Kouken, which one do you think?" Naruto asked. The dog woofed at him, and Naruto looked back at Goki. "Shimmering foot it is!"

Goki blinked for a moment. "You understand what he says?"

"Doesn't everyone?"

The muscular Sarutobi shook his head to clear it of confusion, and then began to explain the basics of the Shimmering Foot style. It relied on rapid movement and almost entirely on kicks, leaving the hands free to use weapons and jutsus. Goki demonstrated by doing a few spinning kicks while doing Bunshin no Jutsu to confuse an imaginary enemy. Naruto ran out of his Taijutsu lesson at the end, holding a scroll with the basic katas of his new style.

* * *

At the Hatake compound, he was in for a similar gift. He found Kakashi in record time (three minutes) and hid for him for another record time (also three minutes). But right before the end of Stealth and Tracking, Kakashi stopped the lesson. "Naruto-kun, it's your birthday. And because it's your birthday, I have a gift for you!" Naruto cheered, and Kakashi pulled out a scroll.

"What's that, Kakashi-sensei?"

"This, Naruto, is a copy of the jutsus of the Hatake. There are thirty-eight jutsus on this scroll, all incredibly advanced. All of these were created by Hatake members, and more will be added. It's sort of like a rite of passage. To be recognized as an adult in the Hatake tradition, you must create an assassination jutsu."

"Wow." Naruto said, in awe that Kakashi was giving him such an important scroll. "Do you really think I can master them?"

"Maybe, but not for a while. I've only master Thirty-Two of them, and I made two of them!"

"Which ones?"

Kakashi unrolled the scroll, and Naruto could see that the techniques were in order D-Class Jutsus to S-Class Jutsus. He stopped at the B-class, and pointed at one. "Chidori." He said proudly. Then he continued to unroll until he got to the S-class. "And it's big brother, the Raikiri."

Naruto looked at the Raikiri. "Cool!" He rolled the scroll back up. "I'll try and master all of them!" He put the scroll in his bag next to the one about the Shimmering Foot, and then took off for his next lesson.

* * *

The rest of his day went like that. He learned something new at each lesson, or was given a gift. The Hyuuga's gave him another scroll, this one detailing the Hyuuga jutsus. The Yamanka taught him the basics of their primary jutsu, Shintenshin no Jutsu. The Inuzaka's gave Kouken a shiny new collar, because it was the dogs birthday as well. But they also gave Naruto a matching collar, which let him summon Kouken no matter where he was.

The Aburame gave him a small hive of bees, which he ran home to place in his room immediately. The bees gave him another form of security, and they attacked any unauthorized person who entered the room. Plus, they gave him an unending supply of honey.

The gift from the Yuuhi clan was more difficult. Naruto had soon discovered that while he could master most jutsus without effort, genjutsu took a little more time and concentration for him. But their gift was a scroll of low level genjutsu, which he vowed to learn as quickly as he could.

The Akamichi gave him a restaurant card, which would give him free food from any restaurant for a month. The Haruno's taught him a jutsu that let Inner Naruto take over his body for a short amount of time. The Naras gave him a shiny new Shogi board. The Shinkotamas gave him a new kunai set.

Then he got to the Uchihas, and entered his usual training room. Sasuke wasn't there, which confused Naruto a little. But then, instead of Itachi, Fuguku was waiting there. "Fuguku-tou-san! Where's Itachi-sensei?"

"Itachi is currently on a mission, and won't be here today." Fuguku said. Naruto nodded. That made sense. It wasn't the first time one of his tutors had had to leave for a mission. But usually, the tutor just left a lesson plan and Naruto followed it. A replacement, and a clan head at that, was extremely unusual.

"Now Naruto, demonstrate what you have learned from Itachi so far." Naruto complied, and began performing the jutsus Itachi had taught him. He started with **_Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu, _**then moved on to the other ones. There was the basic **_Henge no Jutsu _**(Transformation Technique), an earth jutsu known as **_Doton: Maruishi Meiun no Jutsu _**(Earth Style: Boulder Doom Technique), then proceeded through his list of about fifteen jutsus.

'Hm, he's about middle gennin, as expected. Well, that's just his ninjutsu knowledge. With everything else he's learned included, he's probably more like low chunin.' Fuguku thought. "Naruto, I have a question to ask you." Naruto ran up, breathless from performing so many jutsus in a row. "Naruto, which clan is your favorite?"

Naruto looked at him in confusion. "Fuguku-tou-san, I can't favor one family over another. It's impossible." Fuguku nodded. That answer was all he needed to know.

"Ok, Naruto. You can go now." Naruto took off, headed towards the Mitarashi residence. But when he got there, there were a couple guards at the door.

"What's going on?" Naruto asked.

"Sorry, Naruto-kun. Anatomy training is canceled for the day." One of the guards said. "It appears that Anko-chan has either run away or been kidnapped, and almost all of the clan members are searching for her."

Naruto looked at him, his face blank with shock. But quickly, as he had been taught by his many senseis, he schooled his face back to normal. "Oh, ok. Tell Ryusha-kaa-san and the others that I hope they find her."

The guard looked at him in pity. It was hard on a seasoned Mitarashi clan member to lose the heiress, but this kid was one of her best friends! Then, the guard remembered something, and he called Naruto just as he was walking away. "Naruto! Ryusha-sama asked me to give this to you, and tell you 'happy birthday'." He threw a scroll at Naruto.

Naruto quickly unrolled the scroll, and got a second shock. He sat down in surprise, gaping at the scroll. "This- This is, a blank summoning scroll for the dragon! You're not supposed to get this until you're fifteen!"

The guard chuckled. "Apparently, she feels you're ready."

"Thank you very much, Guard-san! And thank Ryusha-kaa-san thank you!" Naruto exclaimed, and ran home, practically skipping.

* * *

But another person in Konoha was feeling anything but joy. That person was Uchiha Fuguku. As soon as Naruto left, Fuguku had called a clan meeting, which consisted of every adult Uchiha except Itachi, who was on a mission. Also left out were the children. Sasuke was practicing his Goukakyuu, and their triplet daughters Kurochi, Hishin, and Metsuki were out playing in the streets of the Uchiha district.

"I have called this meeting to discuss our plans." Fuguku stated. "As you all are aware, we have the superior bloodline in Konoha. But the Hokage refuses to acknowledge that simple fact, instead allowing those pathetic Hyuuga the spot of first clan." That was met with angry murmuring by the rest of the Uchiha.

"So we must annihilate the Hyuuga. Unfortunately, that would never be allowed by the Hokage, and we would be destroyed by the other clans. But there is a simple way that will allow us to destroy the Hyuuga, and show them that we are in right here!"

Fuguku's wife, Mikoto, asked "What would that be?"

"It is simple. All of the clans prize Naruto." There was some more angry muttering. Unlike the other clans, the Uchiha had only adopted Naruto because he was a powerful asset to the clan. "And if he was with us, we would as well. But he grows too powerful, and out of all the clans, ours is the one he likes the least. What we must do is assassinate Naruto, and pin the blame on the Hyuugas. The other clans will side with us then, to avenge their precious fox, when we move to utterly crush the Hyuuga."

The other Uchihas thought about that for a moment. On one hand, would be the death of a six year old boy. But on the other, they would be killing a demon, destroying their mortal enemies, and becoming the most powerful clan in Konoha in one fell swoop. A sadistic smirk crossed onto the faces of all the Uchiha, as one by one, they agreed to Fuguku's plan.

"But there is one problem. And that is Itachi. He is utterly devoted to that boy, and won't let anything happen to him. So we must, as much as it pains me, eliminate Itachi." That sobered the room, as Itachi was generally well-liked throughout the clan. "Are there any volunteers to do this difficult task?"

There was a moment of silence, then Uchiha Shisui stood up. "I volunteer. Itachi is my best friend, and the best I can give him is a painless death."

Fuguku nodded, closing his eyes. "Thank you, Shusui. Your bravery is commendable. Please see to it when he gets back from his mission. We will await your report before we begin the second part of our task."

* * *

Itachi had just returned from his mission: a delivery to the nearby Waterfall village. Ordinarily, it would have taken about three days to do it, but Itachi had been worried about leaving Naruto for even a day, and had pumped all the chakra he could into his legs to get there and back in under a day. He went to his suite of rooms for a quick shower. He had just enough time to eat and get clean before he went on Naruto guard duty. Of course, ninja were exempt from that duty if they had been on a mission, but Itachi didn't want to risk it with an assassination attempt earlier that morning.

But when he got to his suite, there was already someone there. "Shusui! Good to see you! What're you doing here?" he asked, but then turned around to begin undressing for his shower. But Shusui didn't answer his question. But he did hear Shusui moving, so assumed that he was going around Itachi so he could look at his face and not his back. But his assumption was dashed when the footsteps stopped and Shusui wasn't in view. Then he heard a whisper, too low for most people to hear.

"I'm sorry."

With only that as a warning, Itachi dodged as a katana lodged in the dresser he had been standing in front of. As Itachi followed the rule of 'disable first, ask questions later', he drew a kunai and threw it at Shusui's arm. But Shusui moved to dodge, and slipped on an old shirt Itachi had thrown on the ground a couple of days ago. He fell… right into the path of Itachi's kunai, which lodged in his chest. He fell down, bleeding heavily.

Itachi ran up, and pulled the kunai out. "I'll just heal this really quickly, and you'll be fine. Come on, stay with me man! I've got to heal this!" But just has his hand started glowing green with healing chakra, Shusui grabbed it.

"No… I deserve this." He rasped out. "Itachi, you have more important things to worry about. The rest of the clan, the adults of the clan… They're… after Naruto." With that, and a last bloody rasp, Shusui lay dead.

"SHUSUI!" Itachi screamed, and held his dead friend for a minute. Then, his grief stricken brain processed Shusui's last words. 'No one touches my little brother! NO ONE!' he thought, and looked up with eyes that blazed with the Mangekyou Sharingan. Like lightning, Itachi took off towards Naruto's home.

* * *

At the home, the other members of the bodyguard were having a lot of trouble. They, and Ibiki, were being overwhelmed by the attacking Uchiha has. Hizashi was already down, but still alive. That was part of the overall plan to make it look like the Hyuuga were to blame for this. But the other ones were going down quickly. Ibiki was bleeding on the ground, and Ryoto was on her last legs. Chouda was absorbing a lot of punishment, and other members of the bodyguard were nursing various injuries.

Huddling in a corner of his room, where Ibiki had told him to hide, Naruto was shaking in fear with Kouken on his lap. All of his friends were down there, fighting unknown attackers, and he couldn't do anything to help! '_You dumbass, use the distress signal!_' Inner Naruto yelled. Naruto slapped his forehead when he remembered what Hiashi had said once Naruto learned how to flare his chakra.

_Flashback_

_"Naruto, I'm going to teach you something very important." Hiashi said. "If you ever, EVER, are under attack and you fear for your life, or that of your friends, flare your chakra as much as possible. All of us know your signature, and will move to help you quickly."_

_End Flashback_

Naruto got up, and stood on legs that were no longer trembling. He placed his hands in the ram seal, then focused his chakra. Soon, it was flaring brightly in a blue aura, as strong as he could make it. The aura filled up the room, and began casting light on the roof.

At the Hyuuga compound, Hiashi sensed the flare. He spit out the tea he had been drinking, and yelled, "Distress signal! All Hyuuga! Prepare for combat!"

All over Konoha, that scene was being replayed in eleven other clan compounds. Forces of countless shinobi rushed from their homes in their current state of dress, all going to protect the child that was one of them.

The Uchiha felt the flare too. Fuguku cursed. "The other clans will be here shortly! I'll go take care of him! Some of you put on your disguises and continue this! The rest, act like you felt the signal too!" His family nodded, and some donned cowls. Fuguku rushed up the stairs, and into Naruto's room, where he was still putting out that exceptional amount of chakra. It stopped as Naruto looked at Fuguku.

"Fuguku-tou-san! You got my signal!" he yelled, mistakenly believing that Fuguku was here to help against mysterious attackers.

"No, No, Naruto." Fuguku said, finally allowing his hate of this boy to bubble to the surface. "I'm not here to save you. I'm the leader of those here to kill you!" With those words, he drew raised his katana, which was already slick with blood, and prepared to slay Naruto.

Naruto gaped in shock. 'Why would Fuguku-tou-san want to kill me? He's my tou-san! He swore never to hurt me!' Naruto thought. But then Inner Naruto spoke to him once again, and Naruto began shaking in rage. "I see." He said in an extremely calm voice. "You never were my tou-san." He saw the blade arching down toward his face. But then he saw something odd: A kunai arching over his shoulder. Instinctively, Naruto dived to the ground, and a kunai passed right over where he had been before, right where he had seen it a moment ago. The kunai struck Fuguku in the hand, causing him to drop his sword with a curse.

Fuguku looked at Naruto, who was staring at him from the floor. But instead of the confused and hurt look he expected, he saw hate and rage glaring at him from red eyes with one comma in them. 'Sharingan!' Fuguku thought. 'I've got to do this now, before he gets accustomed to it!' He pulled the kunai out of his hand, and stabbed at Naruto. Naruto, though he saw it coming in advance, knew he couldn't move in time.

But suddenly, the kunai stopped. A hand had grabbed Fuguku's wrist, and the owner of that hand was now trembling in rage. "You tried to kill me." Itachi said. "You tried to kill my little brother." He looked Fuguku in the eye, and said, "I won't kill you. I will, however, disable you so that someone can." His Mangekyou Sharingan began spinning rapidly. "Tsukiyomi!" He yelled, and Fuguku was affected by the most powerful genjutsu an Uchiha could produce.

Fuguku found himself in a world that was shades of black and red, tied to a post. "Welcome to my world, Tou-san." Itachi said. "I'm not very good at controlling it yet, but for the next hour, you will be burnt repeatedly by my Katon jutsus." With an exhalation, a fireball torched Fuguku. He screamed in agony. "Fifty-Nine minutes, Fifty-nine seconds to go."

* * *

Naruto had no idea what just happened. All he saw was Itachi-nii-san show up, look Fuguku-tou…, no Fuguku, in the eyes, and Fuguku had let out an earth shattering scream, and crumpled up on the floor. Itachi walked over to Naruto. "Are you ok, Naruto-kun?" Itachi asked, concern in his voice. Naruto looked up at Itachi, his eyes still red with one comma. Itachi gasped. "Naruto, you've awoken your sharingan!" That announcement, which once would have made Naruto jump for joy, only registered as a dull sound in Naruto's mind. Suddenly, Naruto began getting extremely tired.

"Itachi-nii-san, I don't feel so good." He managed to get out. Itachi instantly realized what was going on.

"Naruto-kun, you're suffering from chakra depletion. If we don't teach you how to shut off your sharingan, it will kill you!" Naruto blanched in fright, and Itachi cursed himself for not being more tactful. "Naruto, look into my eyes." Itachi said, stressing the importance with every word. Naruto looked up, and saw Itachi's bladed sharingan dissolve into the regular sharingan, then slowly turn back into his dark eyes.

Some part of Naruto copied that movement, and his own Sharingan shut off. Itachi breathed a sigh of relief. 'So the eye usually does have to copy other eyes shutting off before it knows how to do it itself. That makes an odd amount of sense.' He looked down, and saw the boy had fallen asleep curled up in his lap. Itachi could hear the other clans arriving, assisting the beleaguered bodyguard. By this time tomorrow, there would be no Uchiha clan, save for Itachi, Sasuke, the three young girls, and Naruto.

Itachi looked at the sleeping boy, who he had devoted every fiber of his being to protect. "Well, Naruto-kun, it has been a very eventful birthday."

* * *

A/N: Well, that was my nextchapter! I hope you liked it!

Now, polls!

Poll One: Zabuza, good or evil?  
Poll Two: Haku: Should she be in the Harem?  
Poll Three: Semi-regular or angsty Sasuke?

Tell me what you think! And remember, every review I get makes the story update come in faster!


	4. Aftermath

A/N: I'm still in a minor case of shock over the sheer quantity of reviews that I received for the last chapter. 141 reviews for one chapter! By my standards (and I'm pretty sure everyone elses), that's a hell of a lot of reviews! I'd like to thank everyone who did. It make me feel satisfied as an author whenever someone leaves one just telling me that they loved my story. Of course, most of them were poll results, a couple were questions that I've already answered, and there are always a few flames.

I am done with the poll results! I don't want to tell you who won, because I perfer to explain them in the actually story. If you must know who won, send me a PM or count the votes like I did.

Warmaster2000: I am not putting Hinata in the Harem. For more idepth reasoning, read last chapters Author's Note

Anonomous Reveiwer cevgar: Thanks for your indepth review. The reason I haven't gone into detail with most of the characters yet is because they haven't played much of a part. Right now, the main characters are Naruto, Hiashi, Itachi, and the Hokage. I'll get to the others once they become more important. Also, I have a plan for this story, but I ocassionally like reader input. So I do polls.

Anonomous Reviewer deathfox: I know Chidori and Raikiri are essentially the same thing, but I'm going with the beleif that Raikiri is a stronger version of Chidori.

TheOtaku Akatsuki: Orochi-kun will be showing up in this story alot. Like, say, next chapter!

Anonomous Reviewer red caps: I know Zabuza attended Mist Academy. More on that later.

The Sandman: That's right. All Uchiha except Itachi and the young ones are power hungry asses. or misguided. At least in my fic. And there are no elderly because they're all already either dead of old age or KIA.

Anonomous Reviewer GOst: Yeah, in cannon, Haku is a dude. However, I never really wrapped my head around that. (s)he's way too girly! She also could have been a girl pretending to be a boy. So in my fic, she's a she.

Master of Anime: As one who reads your fics, I seriously appreciate the responces you've given me. Naru's harem is for everyone who I can reasonably squeeze in. Also, I thought it was just Sasuke who got the one comma in one eye and two in the other. I thought it was different for everyone, cause Obito got two in each eye right away. Finally, the Anko thing will be dealt with more next chapter.

obliviandragon: Haku is probably going to be in the Harem, but Tsunade is not. That is just WAY too creepy for me to write.

Flamers: Any flames I get will either be ignored or laughed at, depending on the mood I'm in.

Sorry to those who got used to 5000 word chapters. This one is a little over 2100. Here you go!

* * *

Still in his evening clothes, Hiashi was in the middle of a pitched battle against unknown assailants. He dodged to the left, and a kunai flew past him. He retaliated with an open palm strike, knocking his attacker out cold. 'Who are these people!' Hiashi thought. 'This is more assassins then anyone has ever sent after Naruto before!' He wrenched his mind back to the battle, and disarmed another attacker.

In the midst of the melee, the Hyuuga head found himself back-to-back with one of Naruto's bodyguard that still had the fortune to be standing: Hatake Tanken, Kakashi's cousin twice removed. "What is going on here, Hatake!" Hiashi demanded as he crushed another skull.

Tanken breathed a sigh of relief. "Hiashi-sama, it is good to see you. We were on a modified patrol, because we're short one due to Itachi being on his mission. But one of the security seals was triggered, and we came in as fast as we could. By the time we got here, Ibiki was already down and a couple of the assassins were climbing the stairs towards Naruto-sama's room. We engaged immediately, and everything became a frenzy!"

"How many of you are still fighting?" Hiashi inquired calmly, as if he had not just used his Hyuuga techniques to shut down two chakra circulatory systems simultaneously.

"I'm not sure. Ibiki is down, as is Hizashi. Chouda went down fast, they just got him from behind. Ryoto put up a fight, I think she's still going at it." Sure enough, as he spoke those words, one of the cloaked attackers was thrown against a wall by tiny serpentine dragons. "Yeah, she's still at it. Other then that, I don't know."

As the battle wore on, it became apparent that the attackers were being halted. They might have been numerous, but as the fight had progressed, more and more of the clans had shown up and aided the Hyuuga in stopping them. Soon, Naruto's house, and the area around it, was covered with bodies, some alive, and some not.

* * *

In the middle of Naruto's living room, the twelve clan heads were standing. They all quickly took stock of each other, and none had any wounds deeper then a slash along the arm. Then one of them noticed something off. There were twelve of them, but thirteen clans. "Where is Fuguku?" Kosumo asked. 

From the top of the stairs, a young voice said "Right here." The clan heads looked towards the voice, and were just in time to see an unconscious Fuguku being tossed at them. Hastily, Chouza caught him and put him down gently. At the top of the stairs was Itachi, and he was holding a very unconscious Naruto.

"Itachi-san!" Hiashi bellowed. "What is the meaning of this? You've attacked a clan head!"

Itachi made quieting gestures with one hand, while the other arm cradled Naruto. "Shhh. I just got him to sleep!" he said quietly. He carefully walked down the stairs, and put Naruto on the couch which was thankfully empty. Then he walked over to the assembled heads and spoke in a more normal voice. "As to the reason I've attacked your precious clan head, you should be able to figure that out."

The heads looked at each other, exchanging confused glances. Inoichi spoke up for all of them. "What do you mean, Itachi-san?"

Itachi gestured to the shrouded figures on the ground. "Have any of you bothered to take off their masks?" He looked at the blank faces that stared at him. "I didn't think so." Itachi walked over one figure, and pulled off his cowl. Dark eyes and dark hair met the eyes of the assembled heads. This man was clearly an Uchiha.

"Not enough evidence?" Itachi asked. He walked over to the next figure, and pulled off its mask, revealing another Uchiha face. Itachi slowly walked around the room, pulling all the masks off the bodies. Uchiha face after Uchiha face became uncovered. After all the faces in the room were bare (except Kakashi's), Itachi turned back to the cluster of clan heads. "For those of you who can't figure it out, the Uchiha clan were the attackers here. For some reason, they, or more specifically my dearest father over there, got it into their heads to kill Naruto. That would be a bad thing, in case you didn't know that." He grinned as all of the clan heads glared at him for his insolent attitude. "So I came in, and stopped tou-san from decapitating my little brother here, although he was doing a pretty good job by himself."

The information was very difficult to handle for the clan heads. One of them, one who had sworn to protect and nurture a small boy, had tried to kill him for reasons unknown. All of the heads reacted very differently. Torahi, who was normally a very strong man, was already distraught from the loss of his beloved Anko, and began to cry. Chouza, Shikaku, and Inoichi all exchanged glances, with Chouza muttering something about needing a drink. Kakashi looked sick to his stomach, while Tenoshi had suddenly become very pale. Kosumo looked disgusted, and Shibi looked impassive, though the bugs buzzing angrily behind him told a different story. Iriai sat down hard, stunned that a fellow clan head could do such a thing. Nidaho knelt down to comfort her dog, who was whimpering. Goitro just shook his head, and murmured that he was getting too old for this shit. And Hiashi…

Hiashi looked livid. Those who had never seen an angry Hyuuga before were now treated to that sight. As a matter of fact, if Chouza hadn't restrained him with a partial multisize jutsu, Hiashi showed every sign of charging at the unconscious Fuguku to destroy him. After a minute of fighting Chouza, who was thankful that Hiashi had forgotten he could use the jyuuken, he calmed down. Chouza released him, and Hiashi looked cold once again, though his left eyelid was twitching. "Itachi-san," he asked. "What did you do to him?"

Itachi grinned a feral, bestial grin. "I've recently activated the final level of my Sharingan, which adds three powerful techniques. One is a genjutsu that transports the target to a world of my creation, where I control everything. In one second, he was just burned by Katon jutsus for an hour. It didn't actually burn him, but it knocked him out."

Hiashi's eye stopped twitching. "That was most appropriate, Itachi-san." He turned and looked at Naruto's bodyguard (most of whom were unconscious) and Ibiki, who was also out cold. "Will Ibiki-san be alright?"

Inoichi walked over and did a hasty diagnosis. "He'll be fine in an hour or two."

Hiashi let out a cold smile. "He will have a lot of work to do when he feels better."

Their conversation was interrupted by the sound of many ninja landing outside, and the door flying open. It revealed the Hokage, who seemed to have brought most of ANBU with him. With a glance, he took in the very strange scene: a room full of unconscious Uchiha, twelve clan heads plus Itachi standing in a circle in the middle of the room, Naruto sleeping on the couch, and all of them occasionally shooting the unconscious Fuguku. Sarutobi breathed out a sigh. "Do I want to know?"

Kakashi made a small grin. "No, probably not, but you'd better."

A couple of people let out a small chuckle. Sarutobi walked over to the gathering, and said, "About five minutes ago, I felt enough chakra here to be equal to a small war between villages. What exactly happened?"

Hiashi took a step forward, signifying that he would be serving as the spokesman right now. "We were all at home, when we felt Naruto's distress signal. We immediately rushed here, where we saw his bodyguard and Ibiki engaged in combat. Quickly, we joined in and stopped the assailants."

Itachi stepped forward, and continued the narrative. "Around that time, I was rushing here, having been warned of an attempt on Naruto by an… assassin sent after me." Everyone noticed the pause before he said assassin. "I arrived just in time to stop Fuguku from cutting Naruto's head off."

Finally, Chouza stepped forward. "Then, after all of the clans had come, we joined forces and killed almost all of the attackers. Only afterwards did we learn that they were all Uchiha."

The Hokage rubbed his head. "Blessed Kami." He murmured. "Does anyone know why the Uchiha clan attacked Naruto?" Everyone shook their heads. "I didn't think so. Well, after Ibiki wakes up, he will get to work. And, Inoichi, once Fuguku wakes up, you'll have to interrogate him yourself."

Inoichi sighed. "If there's no other way."

"ANBU!" The Hokage barked. "Take all Uchiha present save Itachi to either the prison cells or the morgue, depending on their condition! Take all other wounded parties to hospital!"

The ANBU barked as one, "HAI!" Then they began their allotted tasks. The Hokage turned back towards the gathering.

"Hiashi, take Naruto to the Hyuuga compound for the night. Everyone, get some rest. We'll have a lot of work to do tomorrow."

* * *

The next morning, Itachi walked into the Hokage's office. Without preamble, he asked "Hokage-sama, what exactly is going to happen?" 

"In regards to what, exactly?" the old man responded. Itachi felt a vein in his temple begin pulsing.

"What will happen to the Uchiha clan?"

"As of right now, it has been determined by Inoichi-san that almost the entire Uchiha clan was at Naruto's house, attempting to kill him. So as of right now, there are seven members of the clan remaining." Itachi quirked an eyebrow, inviting him to continue. "The majority of the clan was executed, and their bodies incinerated, about an hour ago. There remains you, congratulations on becoming clan head by the way, Naruto-kun, Sasuke-kun, Kurochi-chan, Hishin-chan, Metsuki-chan, and the former clan head."

Itachi gaped. "He's still alive! Why is he still alive!"

"Because we've been debating on whether or not to make it a public execution."

Itachi stopped in mid-rant. "Ah. I see."

The Hokage looked at Itachi gravely. "Itachi, there is a more pressing problem here then Uchiha Fuguku."

"What could be more important then the ringleader of an assassination attempt on Naruto?"

"Naruto himself." The Hokage said, leaning forwards on his desk. "Itachi, you told me last night that Naruto awoke his Sharingan?" Itachi nodded. "And are you aware then Naruto has also awoken his Inner Persona, Byakugan, Bug Contract, Beast Transformations, Dragon Powers, Akamichi Expansion, the Living Shadow of the Nara, the Inner Weapon, and his Monkey Abilities?"

Itachi gaped. Naruto had awoken all the major bloodlines he had been gifted with, at the age of six! "I was aware of most of them, but not the Inner Weapon or the Monkey Abilities."

"Well, he has awoken Ten Bloodline abilities! As you can imagine, that is extraordinary for such a young boy." Itachi nodded, still stunned. "But it is too much."

Itachi shook his head to clear it. "Excuse me?"

"Naruto cannot handle all ten of them at the moment. He could handle one, maybe two, safely at the moment. But three or more are extremely dangerous. Naruto could overload his brain, killing him! It was no threat before yesterday, because his body could contain the nine bloodlines. But the tenth one throws his entire control out of balance, and the ten abilities within him could kill him."

"Shit!" Itachi screamed, temporarily forgetting that he was in the presence of the Hokage. Then he remembered, and the old man was treated to this sight of the unshakable Uchiha Itachi blushing. "I apologize, Hokage-sama."

"Quite understandable. I have let similar sentiments out over the course of the morning."

Returning to the topic at hand, Itachi asked "How do you know this? No one else has had ten bloodlines at the same time before."

The Hokage nodded. "But Naruto woke up at about five o'clock this morning. He immediately began screaming in pain. All of his bloodlines were acting up. The Hyuuga guarding him stated that, 'his eyes turned red and grew a comma, veins popped up around them, his shadow started boiling, he suddenly put on twenty pounds, swords began appearing out of midair, lights shaped like dragons or monkeys began shining out of him, his dog started to howl, centipedes started swarming near him, and he started cursing fluently.' In short, all of the signs of uncontrolled bloodlines. I had to put him under a sleeping jutsu so he could survive."

"Can we help him?" Itachi asked frantically.

"We can, but it will be… difficult."

"How? What do we have to do?"

The Hokage took in a deep breath, then let Itachi know the bad news. "His bloodlines must be sealed."

* * *

A/N: Bet you didn't see that one coming!

Now, for my 'opinion gathering', better known as polls. I'm calling it Opinon Gathering because I already have what I want to do, I just want to know what you guys think. Today's gathering is about a crucial subject: Naruto's Sensei and Team.

I don't want anyone in the thirteen clans to be Naruto's sensei, but any other Konoha Jounin works. The only ones I know are Hyate, Ibiki, Ebisu, and Genma. I'm sure I'm missing some.

Also, the teammates. Just tell me who you think should be on the team.

This gathering will be open for a while. I won't get tothe teams until at least two more chapters go by.

As always, R&R!


	5. Sealing

A/N: Well, I sure as hell didn't expect to be putting up another chapter a little over twenty-four hours after my last one. But inspiration struck, and I couldn't stop it!

I broke 400 reviews! YAY! Next goal: 500!

Well, most of the people who reviewed were complaining about my plot twist. It's just that: a twist. Some people wanted me to fix it with demonic intervention. No people, that'll come later. This is a good chance for character developement.

Some others wanted me to resolve the whole 'evil uchiha thing' in this chapter. No, that's next time.

I also, as I was typing this authors note, got an inquiry on why I have Anko and Kurenai in Naru's Harem. Simple. I just changed their ages. It is an AU afterall. If I can give Haku an extra X chromosome, I can knock seven years off Anko and Kurenai.

The rest of you were putting in your two cents on Naruto's team. I can't beleive I forgot Gai in my list of jounin! I really can't beleive it!

Here's your next chapter!

* * *

"WHAT!" Itachi shouted. "YOU WANT TO SEAL HIS BLOODLINES!" The Hokage made pacifying gestures with his hands, but Itachi continued to yell. "But that's what makes him who he is! You take away his bloodlines, you take away Naruto! What the hell are you thinking! Have you even asked Naruto if this is what he wants!" 

"I would," the Hokage said. "But every time he wakes up, he begins screaming in agony." That settled Itachi down, and the Hokage continued to explain. "Simply, the bloodlines are too much for his six-year old body. If he continues to contain them all, he will die."

Itachi deflated. "You mean you're taking them away from him?"

"Heavens no!" the Hokage said. "The seals won't be permanent by any means. They will be able to be released by a seal master, or they will expire on their own. Besides, Naruto can handle, I'd say three of his bloodlines right now."

Itachi breathed a sigh of relief. "You scared me there for a moment. We can seal all but the most powerful for right now. It would be best if he got to maintain the knowledge of the more powerful ones, so that he won't have to relearn them later." The Hokage nodded. "The Sharingan, the Byakugan, and the Mitarashi Dragon contract."

The Hokage raised his hand. "Unfortunately Itachi, there are two problems with that. First, Naruto would have to make the decision of which bloodlines to choose. Since he is currently incapacitated, the people who know him best will have to pick." He put his hand up again to forestall Itachi's argument. "Yes, you will be included in that, but so will a couple of other people. I'd say Ibiki, Hiashi, Myself, and… Ryusha."

Gaping, Itachi said "Me, I know. I can understand Ibiki, he's been living with the boy for years. You treat him like a grandson, and anyone with half a brain can see how much Hiashi loves the boy, but Ryusha? Won't she just try to make him take the Dragon Contract?"

"You don't know Ryusha that well, Itachi." The Hokage said, shaking his head. "Frankly, she's the closest thing to a mother Naruto has. He deals with the other clan matriarchs as well, but he is closest to her as a son. She feels that he is as good as her own flesh and blood for multiple reasons. First, she loves him. Secondly, she feels indebted to him."

"What for?"

"For Anko." While sagely shaking his head, the Hokage said "Before Naruto got to know her, Anko was a scary little hell-raiser. She was an extremely terrifying girl. Once, she was caught dissecting a squirrel, trying to see how it worked. But after Naruto got to know her, She changed. Now she's one of the sweetest, best-natured girls you could ever know, though she still has a scary side when she thinks no one's looking."

With the Hokage saying that, it raised another question for Itachi, one that had nothing to do with Naruto at all. "Has there been any progress in locating her?"

"The team I sent out to search for her hasn't checked in yet. I should be receiving a message telling me of their progress later today."

Back on topic, Itachi said, "You said there were two reasons why my suggestions wouldn't work. What is the other one?"

"Because Itachi, right now, Naruto's eyes can only handle one dojutsu-based bloodline. His eyes simply aren't strong enough for more then one. So he could take either the Sharingan or the Byakugan right now, but not both."

'That makes sense. I didn't think of that.' The Uchiha genius thought. "Who will be doing the sealing?"

"My student Jiraya-kun stopped in town for… business." The Hokage said, turning bright red at the word business. "So he has consented to be the sealer."

"I'll go get the others." Itachi said.

"No need. I thought you might be coming soon, so I sent messengers out to the others. They should be here at any moment."

As if his words had been a signal, the door opened and the Hokage's assistant walked in. "Hokage-sama, the people you requested are here."

"Send them in."

She nodded, and bowed out of the room. Then three people that would make anyone shake in fear walked in. There was Morino Ibiki, scarred head of Interrogation. The fearful reputation he had had only increased by becoming Naruto's guardian. Then came the seemingly ice-cold Hiashi Hyuuga. It was said by the villagers that his glare could freeze water from twenty feet. Finally, there was the matriarch of the Mitarashi clan, Ryusha. There were rumors circulating that she could kill thirty people with one technique, rumors that had probably been started by Ryusha herself.

The three sat down in the free chairs in the office, and the Hokage quickly explained the situation. The reactions varied. Ibiki muttered curses under his breath, Hiashi's grip tightened on his chair arm, and Ryusha, already distraught over losing Anko, began to cry. Hiashi said, "The other heads must be notified of this."

"I already have." The Hokage said. "They stated that you four would be the best to decide what Naruto would want."

The four exchanged glances, Ryusha wiped her eyes, and they began to debate which bloodlines Naruto would want. After a five minute debate between the four males hinging on their various powers, usefulness, and Naruto's overall talent with them, Ryusha spoke up for the first time. "The Haruno inner persona. Naruto needs that."

Ibiki scoffed. "That's perhaps the most useless one!"

"Maybe to us, but to a six-year old boy, it's crucial." She said. "He's grown to depend on his Inner Naruto, and taking him away would be like taking away his best friend. Besides, it helps him learn things. If he keeps it around, it should retain the knowledge of the sealed bloodlines."

The rest of them thought about that, and decided that it made sense.

Itachi spoke up next. "He needs the Mitarashi Dragon Powers." Everyone looked at him questioningly. "From what I understand, the dragons are a summon that is very easily offended. If their power gets sealed, they might take it personally and withdraw their blessing. Am I correct, Ryusha?"

The matriarch nodded. "If we seal that one now, he'll never get it back."

"So that is two." The Hokage said. "We have one spot remaining for him, and eight choices."

"We can eliminate the Inuzuka abilities." Itachi said. "He already has a bond with is dog, and can communicate with it, he just won't be able to access the man-beast jutsus for a while." That was met with simultaneous nods from the others. "The same with the Aburame insects. They'll still be there, he just won't be able to do any of the bug-basted techniques."

"He can do without the Shinkotama limit for a little while." Hiashi said. "He has enough weapons for right now."

"The Nara and Akamichi abilities won't be necessary for right now." The Hokage piped in. "He will just have to watch what he eats and his shadow will revert to a normal persons. I will also remove the Sarutobi powers from the running. He simply has no need for them right now."

"That leaves the Sharingan." Itachi stated.

"And the Byakugan." Hiashi finished.

The two stared at each other for a moment, their expressions unreadable. "What would be the drawbacks to sealing the Byakugan?" The Hokage asked.

"Simply, it is one of the hardest bloodline limits to use, and everyone starts learning it from a young age. If it is sealed now, he won't be able to use it after it is unsealed for at least a year." Hiashi responded.

"And the Sharingan?" Ibiki asked.

"He won't get a chance to advance it." Itachi answered. "It will remain at one comma until he gets it unsealed and gets practice using it."

The five all exchanged looks. Itachi sat back with a sigh. "He will seal the Sharingan. It's much less hassle to advance the Sharingan then to relearn the Byakugan." The others sighed in relief. They had thought Itachi was going to be stubborn.

The Hokage clapped his hands. "I'm glad that's settled. I'll call Jiraya, and we'll go down to where Naruto is." Without another word, he launched into a jutsu that summoned a small bird. Then he scribbled down a quick note, and tied it to the bird's leg. Immediately, the bird took off, looking for Jiraya. The Hokage got up, and walked out of the room with the others following him.

* * *

Soon, they arrived at the infirmary in the tower, where they Naruto sleeping seemingly peacefully. "He doesn't look so bad to me." Ibiki ventured. 

"If you saw him without the genjutsu on, it would scare even you, Ibiki." The Hokage said. Then he looked at his watch. "Well, you're about to. It's time to renew the genjutsu." As he spoke, Naruto opened his eyes.

Immediately, he began screaming loud enough to make Ibiki hold his ears. Then he began to push against the restraints that were holding in onto the bed, his veins bulging and his eyes growing larger. Suddenly, his eyes turned bright red and grew a comma. Then veins started bulging more around his eyes. His scream turned high-pitched as his shadow began to literally start boiling. Kouken, who was sleeping nearby, began to howl and a small swarm of centipedes came out of the wall toward the boy.

"DOWN!" Itachi yelled, and pulled Ryusha to the ground. No sooner had he done that then a sword that had manifested out of nowhere flew through where her head had been. Suddenly the bed Naruto was on creaked, as he put on weight visibly. Then a winged lizard crawled out of Naruto's sleeve and began roaring. At the same time, hair began to sprout on Naruto's arms, making him appear more ape-like. Then Naruto stopped screaming. Instead, he began cursing.

"You damn asshole, Let me out of here before I fuck you up so bad that you're damn mother won't recognize you!" he yelled.

The Hokage walked toward Naruto, and went through a couple of seals. "**_Ninpo: Suimun Souken! _**(Ninja Arts: Sleep Creation)" he yelled, and tapped Naruto's brow with his index finger. Immediately, Naruto fell asleep again.

Ibiki stared at the now peaceful-seeming boy. "Ok, I was wrong." He said.

Another man walked into the Infirmary at that moment. He was as tall as Hiashi, and had long white hair that went down to almost his waist. He also had a face that seemed to be built for laughter, but was set in a hard scowl. "You've got some nerve calling me now, Sarutobi-sensei. I just had the best view, and she was perfect…" he said, almost drooling when he got to the last part. He stopped when he felt four sets of eyes glaring at him.

"My son is dieing because of bloodline related illness…" Hiashi began.

"And you're pissed because you got called out of peeping!" Ryusha finished.

The man waved his hands in front of him, trying to fend off an imaginary beating. "I'm sorry! I'm really sorry! I'll get right on it!"

The Hokage gestured to the man. "For those of you who don't know him, this is my student, Jiraya. He is a master of seals, the toad hermit, and… theauthoroftheichaichaparadicebooks." He said, rushing that last part. He knew he hadn't done a very good job when he felt the killing intent Ryusha was emanating. "Ryusha-san, we need him to help Naruto." He breathed a sigh of relief when he felt the killing intent go down a bit.

'I'd better get started before she kills me!' Jiraya thought. "Okay, Saru-sensei, which ones am I sealing?"

The Hokage quickly told him, and Jiraya nodded. "Makes sense. I'd better get started. But first, tell me where you these things to go."

"One of his arms, around the shoulder." The Hokage answered. Jiraya nodded, and rolled up Naruto's right shirt sleeve. There, he saw the coiling dragon tattoo of the Mitarashi.

"I'd better use the other arm." He said out loud, and rolled up Naruto's other sleeve. "Back up." He said to the others, and once they complied, he tapped Naruto and said "KAI!" Immediately, the genjutsu on Naruto was lifted, and the symptoms began again.

'Better take care of the bugs first.' Jiraya thought. 'They'd make it a little hard to stand.' He went through a couple of seals, and pressed his palm onto Naruto's should. "**_Chisen Kinko!_**" he yelled, and there was a sound like a white-hot piece of metal being dunked in a water barrel. Naruto stopped cursing and screamed. When Jiraya removed his hand, there was a tattoo like a centipede's head. As they watched, it extended into a whole centipede, coiling in a ring around his arm.

'The shadow is creeping me out.' He thought, and repeated the process right under the centipede. This time, it left a small ball of darkness, which extended into a black ring tattoo.

'The dog is starting to kill my hearing.' Another jutsu, and a tattoo shaped like a dog biting his tail appeared under the darkness.

Every time Jiraya repeated the jutsu, another tattoo joined the others in coiling around Naruto's arm. A ring of swords followed the dog, and after that came a chain of monkeys formed into a loop. Then came a string of commas, and then a plain bumpy line finished it off. All in all, it looked like Naruto's left bicep had just received some serious tattoos.

Jiraya backed up, breathing heavily. "There. He should be fine now." As if to confirm his words, Naruto opened his eyes.

"Uh… Oji-san? Why am I strapped down?" he asked.

"Jiraya, thank you for your help." The Hokage said. "You can go now."

Jiraya nodded. "It was a pleasure, Saru-sensei." Then he left, giggling about research.

The Hokage turned his attention back to Naruto. "It's good to see you awake, Naruto-kun." Naruto grinned in answer, though there seemed to be something different about it. Then it hit him: Naruto's eyes were closed. They had always been open when he smiled before, showing the depth of the happiness and joy inside the boy. But now they were closed.

"Could you all leave the room for a minute?" The Hokage asked, and the four acquiesced, though all with some amount of grumbling. Once they were all gone, the Hokage turned back to Naruto. "What's the matter, Naruto-kun?"

Naruto looked at him for a moment, then burst out into tears. Quickly, the Hokage released the restraints and grabbed Naruto in a hug. Naruto clung onto the Hokage as if he were a lifeline. In between sobs, Naruto gasped out, "Why did Fuguku-tou-san try to kill me? Why!"

As the Hokage tried to think of a way to explain the reasoning of a power hungry bastard to a small boy, one thought crossed his mind. 'Fuguku is having a slow, painful, public execution.' He struggled through explaining to Naruto what had happened, and how his bloodlines had gone crazy.

Naruto thought about everything the Hokage had just said, and translated it to "So Fuguku-tou-san is a big doo-doo head, and I can't use most of my powers because they're sealed into my arm."

"Basically."

"So how do I get them out?"

"You'll learn how eventually, Naruto-kun." Naruto looked at him, and the Hokage said that that wouldn't fly today. "Okay, Naruto-kun. Has anyone ever told you about the Uzumaki clan?"

* * *

Waiting outside the infirmary, Ryusha was slowly finding her equilibrium once again. Naruto had recovered. If only Anko were ok. As if in answer to her silent prayers, a chunin rushed in. "Ryusha-sama! Anko-sama has been found!" In a flash, the Mitarashi matriarch was on her feet. 

"Where is she!"

Five minutes later, Ryusha was talking to a nurse outside of Anko's room in Konoha hospital. "Is my girl alright?" she asked, borderline hysterical.

"Anko will be fine."

"Will be! That means she wasn't! What exactly happened!"

The nurse sighed, knowing that Ryusha wouldn't like what she was about to hear. "It appears Anko was kidnapped. She has scars on her arms, legs, and torso that I'm sure she didn't have before she was kidnapped. But most importantly, she had something like this on her neck." She shoved a piece of paper into Ryusha's hands.

Ryusha stared at it, then it slid out of her limp fingers. The paper landed face up on the ground, showing a copy of Orochimaru's cursed heaven seal.

* * *

An hour later, the Hokage was presiding over the very public execution of Uchiha Fuguku. "Uchiha Fuguku, you have been charged with high treason. You have attempted to kill loyal leaf ninja, solely to expand your own power. You have been sentenced unanimously by the council to death by Katon jutsu. Do you have any last words?" 

Fuguku opened his mouth, and the Hokage sensed a speech coming that would make him a martyr to the villagers, playing on their hatred of Naruto. He moved to forestall it. "No need. Your actions have spoken for you. When you tried to kill a leaf shinobi, your actions spoke for you. When you attempted to kill a small child, your actions spoke for you. When you were preparing to frame our most prominent clan for this crime, your actions spoke for you. Now you die a traitor's death." The Hokage turned his back on Fuguku, and motioned for the executioner to come forward.

The executioner was an average looking man. He had brown hair, dark eyes, and a cruel set to his mouth that was to be expected of an executioner. He walked over to Fuguku, and bent over to tighten the ropes holding him to the stake so he couldn't escape. Or at least, that's what he appeared to be doing. In reality, the executioner was whispering in Fuguku's ear.

"Ku Ku Ku Ku. Do you want to survive this, Fuguku-kun?"

* * *

A/N: ANOTHER PLOT TWIST!

To those who want to know what the Uzumaki clan does, read chapter one. I put it in there.

Finally, I'm going to give a list of Jounin people suggested to be Naru's Sensei.

Ibiki: I was leaning away from this, because I've already used alot of him.  
Ebisu: I'm considering this for comedic value alone.  
Asuma: Sorry, He's in the Sarutobi clan.  
Gai: I really like Gai, and am considering this. I can see Kakashi's face now.  
Yamato: Again, considering this. He's pretty much a blank slate, so I can make stuff up about him.  
Hyate: My initial inclination. Frankly, I just like Hyate.  
Jiraya: No. That would make him too overpowered, even for me.  
Tsunade: See Jiraya's answer.  
Shizune: Actually, not a bad idea.  
Genma: Also considering  
Yuugao: Not much known about her. I could actually use her.  
Itachi: I'm not doing that. He has a clan to run.  
Rin: See Shizune answer.  
Iruka: I could promote him, and let him be Naru's sensei.  
Those two whose names I forget who always help Tsunade: Nah. I don't really like them.

That's all of them, unless I'm forgetting someone (AGAIN!)  
So right now your choices are: Ebisu, Gai, Yamato, Hyate, Shuzune, Genma, Yuugao, Rin, Iruka.  
NOTE: I do not promise to use that person as Naruto's sensei. The one that wins will play a prominent role in the story though.

See ya next time!


	6. Escape, then Dragons

A/N: Well, I just want to thank you guys for reading this story. It has currently surpassed my other stories in almost everything. Right now, it is behind on views (Three for the Fox Boy has the most of all of mine), and length (Brothers in Misery has that honor). So thank you for reading. And thanks to everyone who voted. You still have more time to do that. But right now, in my mind, unless someone can come up with a very convincing argument otherwise, the jounin instructors have been narrowed down to Gai, Rin, Hayate, and Genma.

To all 237 people who have this on alert at this exact moment in time, and those who will read it because they're bored: enjoy!

* * *

"W-What!" Fuguku hissed. "Why would you want to save-" but then he was cut off by the 'executioner' reaching up and grabbing his own cheek. Then he pulled it down a little, revealing pasty white skin and reptilian-yellow eyes. "Orochimaru, why do you want to save me!" Fuguku hissed urgently. 

Orochimaru, disguised as the executioner, stepped back, and pretended that he was taunting the disgraced Uchiha Clan Head. "You see, Fuguku-kun, I work for a very nice organization. It is perhaps one of their greatest desires to see you as a member of their ranks."

"Why me?"

The snake sannin shook his head, disappointed in the intelligence shown. "Why not you? You have absolutely nothing to lose, everything to gain, you will die if you don't accept, and unless I miss my guess, you hate the vessel and wish the chance to get even with him."

Fuguku pondered that for a moment. Then a small, evil smirk crossed his face. "Damn right I do. Now how are you going to get me out of here?"

"Very simple." Orochimaru stated. "Who was your closest friend?"

"Ummm… Uchiha Dosaku. He died attacking the fox brats home."

"Did you order that attack?"

"Yes, I did."

"So, by proxy, isn't it your fault your best friend died?"

"No, he knew the risks, he would have tried it without my order, I just-"

"My dear Fuguku-kun, by ordering the attack, you killed your best friend."

"I DIDN'T!" Fuguku screamed. Everyone looked at him in confusion, surprised by the sudden outburst.

"Fuguku-kun, if you didn't, then you will never get out of here."

Fuguku thought about the death of his friend. Dosaku had wanted to enter the attack, to kill the fox demon and to catapult the name Uchiha to the finest of Konoha. But he would not have gone ahead without Fuguku's order, no matter what the disgraced clan head claimed. Dosaku would have been worried that he would bring destruction on the clan, and wouldn't have done it by himself. Fuguku hung his head. "I did it." He whispered.

"Excellent." Orochimaru said. "Now, you'll be able to break out of here. When you do, make some speech about payback, then meet me in Iwa." The snake nin jumped back, and went through a couple of handseals. "**_Katon: Goukakyu no Jutsu! _**(Fire style: Powerful flame technique)" he yelled, and breathed out the giant fireball at Fuguku.

Fuguku stared at the incoming ball of fiery death. 'I have to find someway to stop it!' he thought. Then he felt his eyes change. Everything looked just like it did when he had the Sharingan active, only more so. Time was moving even slower, he could copy the way everyone was moving, and something strange was going on. His brain processed something that he remembered reading in the Uchiha clan scrolls years ago. 'The Mangekyou Sharingan is activated through great mental trauma, usually a huge amount of guilt. The standard one comes with three powers. The most impressive one visually is Amaterasu, which conjures indestructible black fire, which can burn through anything and will protect the user from other fire-based attacks.'

'I've unlocked the ultimate Sharingan!' Fuguku cackled in his mind. The fireball was approaching rapidly. He stared straight at hit, with his three-bladed sharingan spinning rapidly. "AMATERASU!" he shouted, and a ball of black flame met the red one, shielding him. The wake of the fire burned off the ropes holding Fuguku to the stake, and he stood up, stretching to remove several kinks from his back.

Fuguku looked around, and saw that in the confusion, Orochimaru had escaped. Remembering the snake-nins orders, Fuguku cleared his throat. "Pigs of Konoha, you shall regret the day you tried to kill the mightiest member of the mightiest clan! I am the last true Uchiha! And I shall return, and kill you all!" With that, he summoned up some more black fire, and used it as the medium for a teleportation jutsu. He disappeared in a plume of darkness, and left absolute bedlam in his wake.

* * *

The next day, the village was still reeling over the escape of Uchiha Fuguku. He had been put in the Bingo Book immediately, ranked as an S-Class missing nin with orders to be killed on sight. Itachi was stunned by his fathers escape, and was blaming himself. But he managed to cover that fact up with Naruto, who was now extremely scared of Fuguku coming to get him. 

But both of them were able to get over their fear and self-loathing when they were indulging their food addictions. As a matter of fact, Naruto's 'inner family' went out for a dinner to celebrate the fact that Naruto was no longer in danger, and that Anko had been recovered. There, the waiters watched in stunned silence as the five of them gorged themselves on their favorite foods.

It was a little known fact, but Hiashi was a huge fan of Onigiri. If he couldn't be found, chances were that he would be sitting in the spacious Hyuuga kitchen, stuffing his face with the small circular objects. He just liked the way they were prepared, hand-rolled with care, with the lovely taste of fish. But it was not common knowledge, so when the staff of the restaurant saw the dignified head of the Hyuuga popping in Onigiri one after the other with barely pause for chewing, they were understandably shocked.

Ryusha's favorite food was imported. When that was heard, people just thought the Mitarashi Matriarch had high taste. Those people never saw the wonder that is beef jerky. Ryusha loved the meat-sticks, and would crunch them all day if given the chance.

Naruto, of course, had his world-famous ramen addiction. He loved all flavors and varieties. There was chicken ramen, pork ramen, beef ramen, shrimp ramen, miso ramen, and many, many more. And Naruto loved them all, and ate them with a passion that was frightening to behold.

The intimidating and frightful head of interrogation, Morino Ibiki, had a soft spot for two things in his cold heart. They were Naruto, and chicken dumplings. If you asked the usually silent Ibiki why he loved chicken dumplings so much, you would get a ten-minute speech about why chicken dumplings were so great, and how they were practically a gift from the gods.

Finally, Itachi had the most surprising addiction of them all. When the waiters asked him what he wanted, already cowering in fear because of the sheer amount of ramen, jerky, onirgiri and dumplings that had already been consumed, they had been relieved that he had only wanted a small bowl of beef broth. There was talk that out of all of the people, Itachi was the only one who had any restraint when it came to food. But then, it was time for dessert. Everyone had a small piece of cake, except for Itachi. He had asked… for a couple of sticks of pocky.

After that, had followed a couple more sticks of pocky. Before long, Itachi had consumed a box of pocky. Then two. Then four. Soon enough, the waiters were running out to the store to buy more and more of the treat for Itachi, who consumed all flavors and tastes indiscriminately, relishing each one.

After all five of them had successfully indulged their addictions, it was time for the bill. A waiter had come up, and placed it down on the table, an equal distance from all five of the people sitting there. The five had looked at it unblinkingly for a moment, then as one turned to face the waiter. "Send it to the Hokage." They said in unison.

The next morning, the Hokage's scream was heard throughout fire country.

* * *

It was a week after Fuguku's escape, and Naruto was sitting in his room. He had finished training for the day, and was slightly worried. Anko was back, but she was still unconscious in the Hospital. Ryusha was now known for jumping at soft noises, and was often seen at her daughter's bedside. But Ryusha was not the cause for Naruto's worry. He knew that if he had a child, he would be doing the exact same thing. No, the reason Naruto was worried was because of Sasuke. 

Sasuke had woken up in the almost empty Uchiha district to find out that almost his entire clan had been executed. When he asked why, he was told "Treason against Konoha." He didn't know what kind of treason, and whenever he asked, everyone always acted like they didn't hear him.

Naruto hadn't seen Sasuke for days, but had run into him at the end of his ninjutsu lesson with Itachi. Naruto had been at a loss for things to say for a moment, but then settled for "Sorry about your family, Sasuke."

Sasuke looked looked at him as if he'd never seen him before. "They were traitors. No one will tell me what they did, but they were traitors. I want to know why."

"Why what?"

"Why they became traitors. Maybe they thought Konoha was corrupted, and tried to stop it. Maybe they were framed by a rival village. But I will find out what happened!"

"How're you going to do that, Sasuke?"

"There's only one person who knows what happened that'll be willing to tell me. I'll find tou-san, and get strong enough to beat the reason out of him!" With that, Sasuke stormed off, leaving a stunned Naruto behind.

'If Sasuke finds out what happened, who knows what he'll do?' Naruto thought. 'He could decide that it was my fault, and try to kill me! He's a royal prick most of the time, but he's nice sometimes, and he's still my brother! I don't want to kill him!' He pounded his hands on the floor in emotion, then heard something rolling. He looked over, and saw his backpack from his birthday rolling over.

'Oh yeah!' he thought. 'I never actually got to look through my birthday presents!' His previous worries forgotten, Naruto scampered over to his bag and pulled it open. He reached in and pulled out one of the scrolls at random. When he realized which one it was, he felt his mouth dry in excitement. 'The Mitarashi Dragon scroll!' he thought.

Hastily, he unrolled it on his floor. All extended, it stretched from one wall to the other. Naruto poured over the first entry. 'The first part's a summoning contract. So I sign in blood here, then do Kuchyose no Jutsu.' All of the clan heads had drilled how to perform Kuchyose no Jutsu into his head, as they all wanted him to one day sign the contracts with they patron animals.

As Naruto looked at the summoning contract, he saw a little note. It read 'Naruto: This is your copy of the Dragon Summoning Contract. The first person to sign it is regarded as the owner. You may let other people sign it, but they cannot summon without your permission. You have your own because I don't want you being at the mercy of someone else's good graces.' It was in Ryusha's well-formed hand-writing, and Naruto grinned at the care his foster-mother put into this.

He continued to pour over the contract part, he saw another note, this time in the strong hand of Torahi, patriarch of the Mitarashi. 'Naruto, when you first summon, pour as much chakra into it as possible. Your first summoning determines your power in the Mitarashi abilities. If you summon some lower-level dragon, that will be the strongest dragon you will ever be able to call, and you will be unable to learn most of the Mitarashi techniques.'

"Thanks, Torahi-tou-san." Naruto murmured. He had been planning on running outside to summon immediately after he had finished the scroll, but now he would wait till morning so he would have full chakra reserves. After biting his thumb, Naruto signed the contract in blood (well, it took a couple of bites as his healing factor and hugely long name made a lot of cuts), then left a handprint. Once it dried, Naruto continued to look through the dragon scroll.

After the contract, there were dragon based techniques. There were only three that were basic enough to do, but those three were very useful. Ryuyoku granted him the wings of a dragon, huge bat-like leathery ones. They allowed him to fly for a short period of time. Hitosu conjured fire, and allowed him to throw it around. Finally, Gouka created a stunning aura, like killing intent, only it was awe, not fear.

Yawning, Naruto looked out the window at the sun, and was startled to see that it had already gone down. He ran downstairs and saw Ibiki, who was reading a scroll entitled '17 ways to remove blood from your trenchcoat'. "Ibiki-nii-san, can you tell the others I won't be at training tomorrow?"

Ibiki raised an eyebrow. "Why would that be?"

"I have to summon a dragon." At the matter-of-fact response, Ibiki jumped in his chair.

'He's going to summon? Tomorrow? Well, he has to do it sooner or later.' Ibiki thought. Out loud, he said "Ok, Naruto-kun. I'll tell them." Naruto grinned in thanks, then ran back up to his room to get a long sleep.

* * *

The next morning, Naruto woke up and ran downstairs. He must have woken up much later then usual, because Ibiki was already gone, leaving a plate of breakfast. Naruto bolted it down, then ran outside. He noticed his bodyguard taking up a large perimeter around him, and grinned. He wouldn't be attacked while he did this, leaving him safe to summon. 

Naruto channeled all the chakra he could into his right arm, and a visible blue aura developed around it. He bit his thumb, and quickly went into the seals necessary for the technique. Finishing them, Naruto slammed his hand into the ground with a cry of "**_Kuchyose no Jutsu! _**(Summoning Technique)".

A plume of smoke erupted from where Naruto stood. When it cleared, Naruto was looking over the treetops of Konoha, staring into one of the top windows of the Hokage tower. 'Is this a good thing or a bad thing?' he thought. Then slowly, he looked down to what he was standing on.

The first thing he saw was a solid floor of scales. The thing he was standing on was so vast that he couldn't see all of it. "Um… I'd like to get down now." He said to himself. But something heard him. He started going down to the ground, and soon, was at a safe distance to jump off. As soon as he was on the ground, he spun around and looked at the thing he had summoned.

The dragon was huge. It was a western dragon, stronger then the legless eastern variety. It was as tall the Hokage tower, and bigger then the clearing Naruto had chosen to summon. As a result, it was now sitting on the forest, with its upper half being in the clearing. It had humongous wings, each as big as a small house, which would easily allow it to fly. It's scales were of a silver hue, turning to blue along the extremities. And it's eyes… It's eyes were the purest blue Naruto had ever seen.

The dragon looked around, confused because of it's surroundings. "Ok. Who summoned me?" the Dragon asked. "Whose great idea was it to call me out and put a little kid on my head! Gotta tell you, it's a pretty crappy joke!"

"Umm… excuse me? Mr. Dragon? I summoned you." Naruto stammered out.

The dragon looked at him and laughed. "A kid like you? Summon me? You're funny kid, I'll give you that."

"Seriously, Mr. Dragon, I summoned you. See, here's my contract." Naruto said, and pulled out his contract, unrolling it until it got to his name.

Snorting, the dragon lowered its head again until it was level with Naruto and the contract. It looked at the contract intently. "Well, I could tell that it was a new contract that summoned me, and you fit the bill. What's your name, kid?"

"My name is," Here, Naruto took a deep breath. "Hyuuga Uchiha Haruno Shinkotama Sarutobi Inuzaka Nara Akamichi Yamanaka Aburame gasp Yuuhi Mitarashi Hatake Uzumaki Naruto." He exhaled, then breathed again. "I still can't say it in one breath!"

The dragon felt a large bead of sweat develop. "Uh, Kid? You ever considered shortening that?"

"Nope. It's my name! What's yours?"

The dragon drew himself up proudly. "I am Gin no Shainingu, prince of the dragons!"

"So that means you're really strong?"

"Uh-huh. I'm the third strongest dragon, after my mom and pop!"

"COOL! I SUMMONED A STRONG DRAGON!"

Naruto's happiness extended long into the day, even when all of the clan heads jumped into the clearing. Ibiki followed close behind, muttering about "Annoying brat, powerful chakra surge making me lose my source", while wringing a red liquid out of his trench coat.

When Torahi and Ryusha saw the great silver dragon, they were stunned. Torahi looked at his wife. "What's your strongest dragon?" he asked.

"Yupiteru, mistress of bronze dragons. You?"

"Onikisu, lord of obsidian dragons."

The two stared at Shainingu, the dragon that made their strongest ones look like a doberman and two poodles.

* * *

A/N: I REALLY LIKE DRAGONS, OKAY!

Now, it's time for something I've never done before:

**EXTRA: Clans and What they do**

Hyuuga Clan  
Head: Hyuuga Hiashi  
Bloodline: The Byakugan, which allows the user to see 359 degrees and to see the chakra pathways  
Status: Alive and Thriving  
Role they play in Konoha: The Hyuuga are the elite in Konoha, and are extremly good ninja. Most are among the ranks of the chunin, because most of them have no desire to learn outside styles, a prerequisite for advancing to Jounin. They are also good interrogators, and are excellent trackers. A couple also become medic nins.

Uchiha Clan  
Head: Uchiha Itachi, formerly Uchiha Fuguku  
Bloodline: The Sharingan, which allows the user to predict the opponents moves, and can copy almost everything  
Status: Almost entirely gone  
Role they play in Konoha: The Uchiha were the number two clan in Konoha. They were the police force, who made sure that the ninja were kept in check.

Haruno Clan  
Head: Haruno Kosumo  
Bloodline: The Inner Persona, which created another facet of the users personality which was much more ruthless and less restrained then the normal one.  
Status: Alive and Thriving  
Role they play in Konoha: The Harunos are primarily school teachers, both for the Ninja Academy and the civilian schools.

Shinkotama Clan  
Head: Shinkotama Tenoshi  
Bloodline: The Inner Weapons, which allows the user to manifest weapons where and when they choose, as long as it is within their line of sight.  
Status: Alive and Thriving  
Role they play in Konoha: The Shinkotama are the primary suppliers of weapons in Konoha. They run Konoha's biggest weapons store, the Shinkotama Armory.

Sarutobi Clan  
Head: Sarutobi Goitro  
Bloodline: Monkey Powers, which allow the user to gain the dexterity, agility, and appearence (somewhat) of a monkey.  
Status: Alive and Thriving  
Role they play in Konoha: The Sarutobi's are primarily Taijutsu users, though most dabble in Kenjutsu. They run the open dojos of Konoha.

Inuzuka Clan  
Head: Inuzaka Nidaho  
Bloodline: Canine Bonds, which bonds each user to one puppy, then allows the man/beast jutsus to work with that dog.  
Status: Alive and Thriving  
Role they play in Konoha: The Inuzuka are the primary trackers in Konoha. They also run all vetrenarian offices.

Nara Clan  
Head: Nara Shikaku  
Bloodline: The Living Shadow, which gives their shadow a small semblence of awareness, and allows it to interact with other things.  
Status: Alive and Thriving  
Role they play in Konoha: The Naras are the stealth experts in Konoha. They also are the primary stratigists.

Akamichi Clan  
Head: Akamichi Chouza  
Bloodline: Enhanced Weight, Expansion jutsus, super strength, and the ability to consume anything safely.  
Status: Alive and Thriving  
Role they play in Konoha: The Akamichi are also Taijutsu specialists. They also run a chain of diners and a couple are food tasters.

Yamanaka Clan  
Head: Yamanaka Inoichi  
Bloodline: None  
Status: Alive and Thriving  
Role they play in Konoha: The Yamanaka are specialists at stealth and interrogation. They also run a flower shop.

Aburame Clan  
Head: Aburame Shibi  
Bloodline: Insect Contract, which allows insects to live in the clan member, in exchange for performing certain tasks.  
Status: Alive and Buzzing (sorry, couldn't resist)  
Role they play in Konoha: The Aburame are especially good at tracking. They also are very good insect keepers, and Aburame Honey is a commodity widely sought after.

Yuuhi Clan  
Head: Yuuhi Iriai  
Bloodline: None  
Status: Alive and Thriving  
Role they play in Konoha: The Yuuhi are genjutsu specialists. The lower ranking ones sometimes use their genjutsu aptitude to create small amusements for children.

Mitarashi Clan  
Head: Mitarashi Torahi  
Bloodline: Dragon Contract. While it's not exactly a bloodline, they are the only ones in Konoha who maintain contact with dragons, and have developed many techniques around them.  
Status: Alive and Thriving  
Role they play in Konoha: The Mitarashi are mostly interrogators, and have good knowledge of Anatomy. For their clan's funds, they have a highly successful acupuncture clinic.

Hatake Clan  
Head: Hatake Kakashi, formerly Hatake Sukumo  
Bloodline: None  
Status: Slowly Rebuilding  
Role they play in Konoha: The Hatake are the assassins of Konoha. They are also geniuses at jutsu invention.

Uzumaki Clan  
Head: Uzumaki Naruto, formerly Uzumaki Arashi  
Bloodline: To be revealed  
Status: Almost entirely gone  
Role they play in Konoha: None right now, as only one remains. But before, they were extremly good at sealing jutsus, and often sold low grade ones as security systems for civilians.

* * *

A/N: Well, that was the extra! Hope you enjoyed, because I had a little fun with it.

Next Time: Sealing and the Academy


	7. Tests, then the Academy

A/N: Well, it's time for another installment of All for One! Not that you guys would know that rightnow, because the e-mail alert system is acting up! Well, Thischapter goes back up in length, being over 4000 words and 10 pages. You guys enjoy, and remember to review this time!

* * *

"Naruto-kun, what brings you here today?" The Hokage asked his small, purple-eyed guest.

Naruto looked at him like he was going senile. "Um, oji-san? You called me here."

The Hokage grinned, acting like he knew that. 'Damn, I forgot that.' "I know, Naruto-kun. I was just testing you. You passed!"

Naruto looked at the aged Hokage. "Riiiight."

"Well, Naruto-kun, I'm here to test your progress in your training. As you know, it's been over two years since you've began it, and I am eager to see what you've been working on."

The now eight-year old Naruto nodded. "I know, and in three more, I'll be going to the academy!" Naruto knew that because Kurenai, Anko, and Hana, all of whom were three years older then he was, were on their way to their first day as he spoke. That was both a good thing and bad thing. On the good side, he got more personalized attention. On the bad side, he wouldn't be seeing his three slightly older friends nearly as often.

Kurenai was really nice to Naruto. She often brought him some kind of food before their lesson, and never hesitated to help Naruto on some genjutsu concept he wasn't doing well on. It was thanks to her care and help that he had finally mastered his favorite genjutsu, the **_Kage Kase no Jutsu _**(Shadow Shackle Technique), a move that required absolute control and concentration.

Out of all three of them, Hana was the only one that Naruto knew he'd see on a regular basis. After all, she was training to be a veterinarian as well as a shinobi, and he took Kouken to see her frequently, to make sure he didn't get ticks, fleas, or a strange disease. She was also one of best people to talk to when you had a problem.

And Anko… Anko was confusing. Before her disappearance, then subsequent recovery, she had been a sweet, calm girl who was very giving. Now she was more rude, had a tendency to jump at small noises, and was known for killing all the snakes she could find. She also was known for rubbing her neck at random times, and cursing a lot for an eleven year old.

"That's right." The Hokage said. "In three more years, you'll be off to the academy. But for right now, I'm going to test your progress on each of the subjects you've been learning with your tutors. If you do well, I have a special gift for you."

Snapped out of his melancholy by the promise of a gift, Naruto grinned. "Bring on your tests!"

The Hokage grinned, and said, "First test, Naruto. What are the eight 'target' body parts that you should attempt to strike at when fighting?"

Naruto thought for a moment. "Heart, Lungs, Clavicle, Jugular, Kidneys, Spine, Brain, and… Liver!"

"Good Job, Naruto!" The Hokage said calmly, though his inner Sandaime was another story all together. Inside his head, a chibi-sandaime was jumping up and down, waving flags that read 'Go, Naru Go!'. "Next test: Taste this pudding, and tell me the ingredients." He handed over a small dish of chocolate pudding. Naruto tasted it.

"Butter, Pure Vanilla, Cornstarch, sugar, salt, milk, and a little chocolate powder." Again, the Sandaime applauded his correct answer.

The tests went on for hours. Next, Naruto was told to determine the proper plan for combating a Jounin missing nin from Kiri with a high power accomplice, with only a Jounin sensei, a gennin team, and an inebriated old man. He solved it easily, with the gennin distracting the accomplice as a team while the Jounin dealt with the bigger threat.

Then he was told to anticipate the reaction a sick comrade would give when knocked out of action for months. Naruto was correct in his decision that he would have yelled to get a medic nin quickly, and if one was not nearby, he would throw kunai at everyone he could see. Unbeknownst to Naruto, that exact situation was playing itself out right now during combat between a three-man Jounin team and a squad of Wind Country troops.

Then, Naruto was given a list of plants and was told to choose the ones that were edible. Once again, Naruto got that right, after deciding that it would be best not to eat pine cones or those little red strawberries that grew in people's gardens.

Animal Training was the next subject to be tested. Naruto simply had to describe the handling procedure for a dog that was giving birth to triplets and wasn't happy about it. That was an easy task, as that exact thing had happened one time when Naruto was visiting the Inuzuka compound.

The last non-practical exam was on book smarts. Naruto breezed through this one. He just had Inner Naruto take control for a little while, and while Sandaime had to put up with much screaming and cursing from Naruto's inner persona, he also received the correct answers.

Then it was on to the practical exams. Stealth and Tracking was the first up, as Naruto had to complete a D-rank mission (find a runaway cat) before a gennin team. He had to hide from the team, locate the cat, then bring the cat back to the Hokage tower. Once the mission was completed, Sandaime surprised Naruto by giving him the mission fee, saying that he had earned it.

Taijutsu was next. For that, Naruto simply had to defeat a member of the aforementioned gennin team in an all taijutsu sparring match. When he entered the training ground, he was worried about having a difficult fight. Those worries were quickly alleviated.

As he analyzed his opponent, he noticed that his stance was slack, he had almost no actual style, and he expected to easily beat the younger, smaller Naruto. Naruto sealed his fate with a few words. "Hey, I found your cat about an hour ago." Having spent all morning chasing after that cat, the gennin was enraged and charged at Naruto, screaming death threats.

He then found himself on the ground, having been subjected to a spinning-heel kick from Naruto. Trying to get up, he found it was quite impossible, as Naruto was standing on his back, with one leg lifted high into the air. "If you don't give up, this foot is breaking your neck." The boy said calmly. The gennin didn't have to think hard about his response.

As the Sandaime watched the fight, two thoughts crossed his mind. 'My, Naruto-kun sure likes kicks.' Was the first one. The second was 'We really need to up taijutsu training at the academy.'

The test after that was chakra control. Naruto simply had to perform the tree climbing exercise, running up and down the tree ten times. He finished quickly, and added two more for good measure.

The weapons proficiency test was next. Naruto had to fight another one of that gennin team, only this time they were armed. The opponent chose a standard katana to fight with, while Naruto went with his weapon of choice, a double-headed spear.

The gennin thought he had the advantage in this fight for the same reasons his teammate did: they were older and bigger. Then, just as quickly as his teammate was, he was disabused of that notion. Striking out with the steel heads of the spear, the wooden staff of the spear, and his own tough feet, Naruto easily defeated the gennin.

Genjutsu was the next test. He had to perform a genjutsu of his choosing on the final member of the gennin team whose life he had been making miserable all morning. The last member was obviously the brainy kind, as she had no muscle on her whatsoever, and was armed with a case of scrolls. She also looked smug, and confident that Naruto wouldn't be able to affect her with a genjutsu.

Naruto simply looked at her, and then made the Tori (bird) seal. "**_Kage Kase no Jutsu _**(Shadow Shackle Technique)" he whispered.

The gennin moved her hands into the cancel seal, or at least, she tried to. But she found herself unable to move her arms, or her legs for that matter. In shock, she looked over at her arm. Her shadow had formed a chain and was connected to her wrist, chaining her to the ground. Or at least, that's what her mind told her.

Naruto watched the formerly smug gennin struggle and wail that she was shackled to the ground. Eventually, the wails got more annoying then amusing, and Naruto launched a small chakra pulse that dissolved the genjutsu.

'Well, that was certainly efficient.' Sandaime thought.

The final test was ninjutsu. Sandaime took Naruto out to an empty training field, where he was pointed at a target dummy. "Just destroy the dummy, Naruto-kun, and you'll have passed the last test." Naruto didn't need to be told twice, and bit him thumb before springing into familiar seals.

"**_Kuchyose no Jutsu! _**(Summoning Technique)" he yelled as he pounded his hand into the ground. The familiar plume of smoke erupted, and Naruto found himself standing on Shainingu's head.

"Whatcha need, Naru?" the great silver dragon asked.

"We're showing off!" Naruto replied. "Let's go with combo attack number seven!"

"Gotcha!" Shainingu said, then took a deep breath. As he exhaled, the dragon yelled "**_Ryuton: Hikasui! _**(Dragon Style: Ice Spikes)". A flurry of sharp icicles flew towards the practice dummy.

Naruto pointed his fist toward the center of the spikes, channeled his chakra, and yelled "**_Dendouse! _**(Electric Current)" A small line of electricity shot towards the spikes, and connected with one. The current bounced off of it, and connected with another. Pretty soon, it had hit every single one of those spikes, leaving them all with some electric charge. With a thunk and a sizzling sound, the electrified ice impacted the dummy.

The Sandaime looked at the aftermath: a dummy that was charred in some places, frozen in others, and had more holes then a sieve. "I think that will do, Naruto-kun."

From his lofty perch, Naruto yelled "Remember to thank Shainingu!"

The Hokage grinned, and bowed to the mighty dragon. "Of course. You performed most excellently, Shainingu-kun." If dragons could smile, Shainingu would have. He lowered Naruto back down to the ground, snorted at him affectionately, then disappeared in another plume of smoke.

Naruto walked over to the Sandaime, then looked to both sides, as if he was about to share a secret of the upmost importance. Then he said, in a conspiratorial whisper, "I think I passed."

The Hokage chuckled. "That you did, Naruto-kun. Now here's your prize." He withdrew a scroll from his robes, and handed it over to Naruto. Hastily, Naruto broke the seal and opened it. After a minute of staring blankly at it, his brain registered what it was. The heavy parchment fell from numb fingers, landing on the ground.

"T-T-T-T-T-The, it's t-t-the Uzumaki clan scroll." He said in a blank, though stammer-filled, voice. The Hokage stood, staring at Naruto. He began a mental countdown.

'6… 5… 4… 3… 2… 1… We have liftoff.' In tandem with his thoughts, Naruto snapped out of his stunned state, and tackled the aged leader.

"THANK YOU OJI! Thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you!" he yelled, then grabbed the scroll from the ground. "I'm gonna go home and study it right now!" He took off in roughly the direction of his house.

* * *

Five minutes later, Naruto was outside his house (an amazing feat, considering the training ground was over three miles away). He ran inside, leaving a dust trail behind him. Ibiki looked up from his scroll (this time entitled 'Removing blood, urine and spit from your interrogator's uniform') in concern, then looked back at his scroll muttering "It's kinda obvious whenever he gets a new scroll."

Upstairs, Naruto was in his room unrolling the scroll all the way. It was even bigger then the Mitarashi Scroll, detailing every little thing about the Uzumaki clan. The first section had a title that made Naruto's breath catch in his throat: The Uzumaki Bloodline.

'The Uzumaki Bloodline Ability, commonly known as the Nijigan, comes in many forms. It typically starts with the eye changing to one of the colors of the rainbow, Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo or Violet, around the age of sixteen. Each color comes with different abilities, and is triggered by a different emotion. Eventually, the Uzumaki clan member's eye cycles through all of the colors that have been opened on it's own, and, if the user wishes it, it gives the benefits of all of their current abilities. They are detailed below.

Red: The Red Nijigan is brought on by rage. While it is on, the user is able to see the veins and capillaries of anyone.

Orange: The Orange Nijigan comes with stress. When activated, the user can see heat sources.

Yellow: The Yellow Nijigan is brought on by worry. It allows the user to see the cause of many ailments and injuries.

Green: The Green Nijigan comes with complete and utter serenity. The user is able to beckon plants to the surface to do their bidding.

Blue: The Blue Nijigan comes with determination and resolve. The user can communicate mentally with anyone who he stares at.

Indigo: The Indigo Nijigan is brought on by pure terror. It allows the user to shatter any mental power anyone has over them.

Violet: The Violet Nijigan is the most powerful of the colors, and only two people out of the entire Uzumaki Clan have ever unlocked it. As such, what emotion is necessary and what it does are not known.'

Naruto sat back, and pondered what he had just read. 'Rainbow eye, huh? I better get stronger before it manifests, or I'll have to go through the whole sealing thing again. Wait a sec, sealing?" At that thought, Naruto pounced on the scroll again, and scanned to the section on sealing.

'Sealing is an Uzumaki specialty. It usually involves painting a symbol, then fusing it with the precise amount of chakra for the desired effect. Seal masters can just draw the shape in midair with their chakra, with no need for paper or a brush.

A standard seal is used to hold some kind of object. The seal next to this paragraph contains a very important book. Only an Uzumaki member can retrieve it.' Naruto looked at the seal that was next to the writing. He could sense the power coming out of it, a small aura that reminded him of himself somewhat. Biting his thumb, he wiped some blood across the seal.

His guess was correct, and the seal popped out of existence. In its place was a very, very large book. Naruto read the cover. 'The complete guide to sealing for complete and utter morons'. Naruto thought for a second. 'I'm going to ignore that title.' He put to book aside, and went back to the scroll.

The scroll contained a couple of other things. Mostly, it was jutsus and fighting styles, which Naruto vowed to learn. 'Why am I learning so many fighting styles?' He asked himself. 'I'm comfortable with the Suimeiashi (shimmering foot), but I know a style for every clan! Now I'm going to learn Uzumaki taijutsu!' But the last part of the scroll was interesting. It contained Uzumaki traditions.

'The Uzumaki Clan is known for being among the most eccentric clans, and has a couple strange traditions. An Uzumaki always wears an armband with his favorite color over his right bicep. This identifies him to others of his clan. Also, an Uzumaki always has at least four meals a day. They have exceptionally high metabolism, so they don't gain much weight. Finally, Uzumakis practice…'

Naruto stared at the last word in surprise, then said out loud "What the hell is polygamy?"

* * *

The next afternoon, after his training sessions, Naruto sat back down with _The Complete Guide to Sealing for Complete and Utter Morons_. He got started with the basic chakra containment seal. The seal did nothing except for hold some chakra, and then release it on command into a harmless fireworks display. It took a couple of hours of trying, but eventually, he got the shape of the seal exactly right.

Now was the hard part. Naruto put an index finger on the seal, and began channeling his chakra into it. His chakra control was near-perfect, thanks to his lessons with the Hyuugas. Naruto stopped his chakra, and felt that the seal was ready. Biting his thumb, he swiped blood across it. A small burst of green energy shot out, and erupted into a pretty pattern. Naruto looked at it. 'Cool!' he thought.

* * *

The next three years went by in much the same way. He trained in the day, trained most afternoons, went out once a week for dinner with his close family, and every once in a while, spent time with his friends. But before he knew it, three years had passed, and Naruto was preparing to enter the academy.

"Have a good day, Naruto." Ibiki said as he went off to work. Naruto nodded, and packed up his small bag. He had a couple of scrolls, some bottles of ink, brushes, and _The Complete Guide to Sealing for Complete and Utter Morons_. In three years, he had only become somewhat good at sealing, probably proficient enough to make the correct seal once out of three attempts. So he still needed work on it.

As he finished packing his bag, he went and grabbed his jacket. It was a standard jacket, only this one had orange and black tiger stripes. The clans had wanted to put all of their symbols on it, but that would have taken up the entire back of the jacket, so they settled for just the Uzumaki spiral.

Naruto looked at himself in the mirror. He was wearing plain black pants with many pockets, an orange T-shirt, the tiger stripped jacket, and had a mask (like Kakashi's) around his neck, so he could pull it up if he wanted to. But unlike Kakashi, Naruto didn't wear the mast a lot. He just left it around his neck.

Deciding he'd stared at himself enough, Naruto ran out the door and towards the academy. He had gotten their quickly, and had time for a five minute nap. When he woke up, he saw that both of the seats next to him had been occupied. On his left side were Kiba and Akamaru. The brash dog boy and his canine companion had become Naruto and Kouken's 'rivals' within the clan. In reality, Naruto had quickly established himself as the 'top dog', and Kiba was his underling. Kiba still challenged for 'control of the pack' every once in a while, but Naruto could keep him in line.

On Naruto's right side was Ten-Ten. She could have entered the academy the previous year, but for some reason, her father had held her back until this one. Out of all of the girls that Naruto was friends with, Ten-Ten was the scariest. Hinata was usually meek, Ino was bitchy sometimes but otherwise a sweet girl, Sakura was like another Ino, but Ten-Ten… Ten-Ten was a nice girl, but she also spoke out frequently, frequently challenged people to fights, talked occasionally about how good she was, and unlike other people, could back up her words. She was undoubtedly the best of the girls in the classroom.

Soon, the teachers walked in. One had shoulder length silver hair, and had a calm and open expression on his face. The other one had a brown ponytail, and a scar over the bridge of his nose. "Ok, class!" The scarred one said. "I'm Umino Iruka, but you'll know me as Iruka-sensei. My partner is Ketsunoana Mizuki, and you'll know his as Mizuki-sensei."

"Here, in the Ninja Academy, you'll be honing your skills so you can become productive ninja in the service of Konoha. But before we actually teach you anything, we'll have to make sure you're all here." Mizuki said. He pulled out a clipboard with a piece of paper on it. "Aburame Shino?"

"Here."

Mizuki continued to take role, calling on everyone to make sure they were there. But when he got to the end of the list, he jumped. "Wow, that's a long name!" He yelped. Naruto chuckled.

Iruka looked over Mizuki's shoulder, and blanched when he saw the name. 'Wow, that is long!' "Um… Hyuuga Uchiha Haruno Shinkotama Sarutobi Inuzaka Nara Akamichi Yamanaka Aburame" Iruka paused for breath. "Yuuhi Mitarashi Hatake Uzumaki Naruto?"

Naruto laughed out loud. "Here!"

After role had been taken, Iruka said, "Now, we will to rank you by your skills. Does anyone know what a jutsu is?"

Sakura's hand shot up into the air. "A jutsu is a ninja technique. Jutsu's are divided into three categories: Ninjutsu, Taijutsu, and Genjutsu. They are also ranked from E-Rank Jutsus, to S-Rank Jutsus."

Iruka stood there blinking for a moment. "Very good, Ms. Haruno. Do any of you know any jutsus?" He blinked again when almost everyone's hand shot up into the air. "Ok, everyone who can perform a gennin level technique, come to the front of the room. Almost everyone walked up front.

The next ten minutes had most of the students performing Bunshin no Jutsu, Kawarimi no Jutsu, or Henge no Jutsu. Sasuke broke the monotony by performing **_Hinotama no Jutsu _**(fireball technique), an extremely low lever Katon technique. Naruto looked at him, then performed the exact same technique. Their eyes met. Naruto grinned, and Sasuke made one of his patented smirks.

"Very good!" Mizuki said to Sasuke. Then he rounded on Naruto. "And you! How dare you imitate Sasuke because you have nothing good!" Naruto looked at him in mild amusement.

Iruka interceded. "Good job, Naruto. Now everyone who cannot perfom a chunnin level technique, return to your seat. Most everyone returned to their seat, leaving Naruto, Sasuke, Hinata, Shino, and Ten-Ten at the front of the room.

First, Iruka went to Hinata. Consulting his list, he found her name and said "Ok, Hinata, please perform your technique." Hinata nodded, then concentrated. A pure blue string of chakra shot out from her finger, grabbing a nearby pencil, then flying back to her hand.

'Chakra Strings, a chunnin level move. As expected from one with excellent chakra control.' Iruka thought. "Now you, Shino."

Shino did nothing for a moment, and Iruka began to repeat himself. But before he finished, Shino dissolved into bugs! Iruka jumped in surprise, but looked around and saw the real Shino standing ten feet away. The usually silent bug boy said, "Kikai Bunshin no Jutsu."

'The Aburame bug clones. Very nice, to have mastered them at such a young age.' Mizuki thought. "Sasuke, you're up next."

Sasuke turned, and faced an open window. "**_Katon: Goukakyu no Jutsu! _**(Fire Style: Powerful Flame Technique)" he cried, and exhaled a powerful fireball out the window.

Iruka thought, 'Fire specialist, as expected from an Uchiha.' He turned to Ten-Ten. "Your turn, Ms. Shinkotama." He said. Ten-Ten nodded, then kicked the floor. A board shot up, and she grabbed it.

"**_Kiken! _**(Wood Blade)" she shouted, and the board melted and shifted. After a moment, it turned into a wooden sword, which Ten-Ten held expertly.

Mizuki nodded in satisfaction. "And that leaves you, brat!" he said to Naruto.

Naruto looked at him, still somewhat amused by the pompous ass in front of him. He placed his hands in the Tori symbol, and focused his chakra on his shoulders. "**_Ryuyoku! _**(Dragon Wings)" he shouted, and two huge, bat-like wings shot out of his shoulders. Concentrating, Naruto started to flap them. Soon, he was hovering two feet off the ground. Then he stopped the chakra flow, and the wings dissolved.

'…' was all Iruka could think. "That was impressive, Naruto. Now, if anyone can perform a Jounin level jutsu, stay at the front. Anyone who can't remain seated." Not expecting anyone to answer in the positive, he was shocked to see two boys still standing up front: Naruto and Sasuke.

The two exchanged glances, and Sasuke said, "We might want to do this outside."

The teachers led the two outside, where they were trailed by a crowd of curious students. No sooner had they gotten outside then Sasuke went into handseals. "**_Katon: Ryuuka no Jutsu! _**(Fire Style: Dragon Fire Technique)" he cried, and shot a huge flame in the shape of a dragon into the sky. Once it dissipated, Sasuke sunk to his knees, exhausted.

"Very, Very Good!" Iruka said. 'We've got tons of talent in this class! Sasuke's defiantly leading the pack! Unless…' He turned to Naruto. "Naruto, it's your turn."

Naruto grinned, then ran up a tree. 'I should do this in midair, for dramatic effect. Shainingu always likes to make an entrance.' He bit his thumb, and leapt out of the tree's canopy. Everyone gaped as Naruto started to plummet to the ground. But Naruto made familiar hand seals, and thrust his arm forwards yelling "**_Kuchyose no Jutsu!_**"

Summoning smoke erupted, and Naruto was soon on his familiar perch on Gin no Shainingu. Over the years, Naruto had learned that he was the only one who could summon the silver dragon, and it got boring for the dragon in the land of summons. So any chance Naruto got, he could summon the dragon, because he needed to get out more.

The mighty silver dragon surveyed the class, and rolled one eye up to look at Naruto. "Showing off again?" he asked.

Naruto grinned. "Performing our best technique gets us good rankings!" Shainingu chuckled.

Almost everyone was gaping at the boy standing on top of the silver dragon, except for those who'd seen Shainingu before. Unfortunately, Iruka and Mizuki were not among those, and their jaws could currently be seen on the ground. Behind them, a group of girls Naruto had never spoken with before were whispering to each other.

After the lunch break, they arrived in shirts that read 'We Love Naruto-kun', had made a giant banner with the same thing on it, and somehow had managed to get their hands on a picture of him, and were trying to make him sign it.

Sasuke thought this was very amusing, until his own fan club reared their hair-sprayed heads five minutes later.

Needless to say, the academy had a very interesting first day.

* * *

Translations

Nijigan: Rainbow Eye  
Ketsunoana: Ass

A/N: Well, I hope you guys enjoyed that. It was a bigger chapter then the last couple. Just so you know, the senseis are right now either Gai or Hayate. I like them both, so I'm not sure which to use.

See you in chapter 8! Next time: In the Academy!


	8. Academic, my dear Naruto

A/N: Well, the last two chapters have been my lowest in reviews for this story. Considering at this moment their numbers are 68 and 70 respectivly, I'm pretty happy! I'm releasing this chapter in honor of the 300th person to put this story on their alert list. Yay! 300 people care about this story! Oh, and because I thought you might be curious about this story's exact stats, I'll copy them over for you.

All for One, by Vesvius no Gobi Doragon  
Chapters: 8  
Words: 32142  
Reviews: 644  
Hits: 35012  
C2s: 47  
Favs: 202  
Alerts: 300

* * *

"Morning, Naruto!" Hinata called. Naruto waved back at her in response, and jogged over to the seat she had saved for him. Behind her, a couple of his fan girls glared at the Hyuuga. They knew that she was a sister to him, but still thought that any girl who spent any time with 'their Naruto-kun' could be tempted into seducing him. Oblivious to the response of his fan club, Naruto sat down with a sigh. 

"Thanks, Hinata-chan!" he said. "Last time I sat down somewhere, a huge fight broke out. I don't know why, but it was really weird." Hearing this, some of his fangirls turned bright red. They had been trying to sit next to the object of their affection, but had been caught by the 'enforcer'. Remembering her, some of them blanched in fright. As if in answer to their thoughts, she walked in the door.

"Hi, Naruto-kun!" Ino yelled. She was by far the most fervent of Naruto's fangirls, and the self-proclaimed president of Naruto's fan club. But she was also the only one that Naruto talked to, perhaps because he had known her since she was a small child. Out of all of the fan girls, Ino was the only one who actually bothered to get to know Naruto. Most of them just enjoyed the thrill of the hunt, but Ino was actually focused on the prize. Naruto talked to her as if she was anyone else, which was more then any other fangirl could claim, and had deemed herself 'Naruto-kun's protector', and beat his fan club back. Looking around, Ino grabbed the seat right behind Naruto, as it was all the better to stare at him.

Some might wonder why the seat on the other side of Naruto was unoccupied. But the reason was barreling through the door at that very moment. Sasuke ran through the door, and immediately barreled into the seat next to Naruto. Shortly after the start of the academy, Sasuke had found out that the head of his fan club was nowhere near as effective at 'fan girl control' as Ino. So by sitting next to Naruto, he was within the sphere of Ino's protection, and Ino beat his own fan club.

Well, with one glaring exception. Sakura ran into the room, looked around, and then spotted Sasuke. "SASUKE-KUN!" She screamed, and tried to latch onto him. Somehow, the Uchiha ducked in his seat, and Sakura flew right over him. She landed with a crash, and was on her feet in a flash, brushing the dirt of her immaculately clean outfit. Then, just as quickly, she was seated next to Ino, behind Sasuke so she could ogle him.

Sakura and Ino were best friends. Sakura had once thought that Ino liked Sasuke just as much as she did. In her words, 'How can you not? I mean he's cute, cool, and strong! I heard that his entire clan went evil, and they tried to get Sasuke-kun to go along with it, but he turned them down and turned them in to the Hokage!' Ino had managed to make Sakura realize that she like Naruto, not Sasuke, and if she could, she was welcome to the Ice Prince. Their friendship had revived moments later, and Ino now removed any girl that was between Sakura and Sasuke.

As the rest of the class filed in, Iruka began to take role once again. He went down the list, and came to the H's. He took a deep breath, preparing to attempt Naruto's name, then just gave up. "Naruto?"

"Here."

Iruka sighed with relief. Everyday for the past two years, he had been forced to try to say Naruto's clan names in one breath. Then finally, Naruto had come up to him after class and told him not to bother. After all, "If I can't say my own name without stopping to breathe, why should you be able to?"

After taking role, Iruka launched into yet another history lesson. 'You think he'd learn eventually that we never pay attention to this kind of stuff.' Naruto thought. In the back of his head, Inner Naruto said '_Of course he knows that, dumbass. He's just required to go through it by the council, pompous old windbags. Go to sleep. I'll wake you up if anything interesting happens_.' Nodding, Naruto lay his head down for sleep.

He was awoken a couple of minutes later by an eraser flying at his head. Without raising his head, he put a hand up and caught the flying object. He tossed it back at Iruka, and Inner Naruto told him what they had been talking about. "The Nidaime and the Shodaime were brothers. One was a master of wood, and the other was really good at water." The calm answer to the question that he had been about to ask left Iruka gaping at Naruto as he put his hand down.

'Sheesh. You think that after three years of the same thing happening everyday, he'd get used to it.' Naruto thought. He dozed off again quickly. The next time he was awoken was due to the lunch bell ringing, so he immediately jumped up and sprinted out of the classroom.

* * *

When the rest of the gennin got outside to the lunch area, Naruto was already setting up for his meal. He took an empty bowl out of his backpack, then pulled out a small piece of paper. Wiping his spit on the seal on the paper, he held it over the bowl. Then he proceeded to wring it out, like he would with a soaked rag. To the surprise of most people, fresh ramen came pouring out of the paper, landing in the bowl. The scent of it soon permeated the air, and steam came wafting out of the already cooked meal. Quickly, Naruto proceeded to dive in. 

His friends gathered around him, each taking out their own meal. Over the noise of crunching, slurping and overall munching, Sasuke asked Naruto a question. "Hey, Naruto, you want to spar after class?"

Naruto shook his head, causing a small amount of ramen broth to land on either side of him. As he dug another ramen-seal out of his bag, he said "Sorry. I've got family things."

"What kind of family things?" Ino asked, her curiosity genuinely peaked. The rest of Naruto's fan club listened eagerly, hoping it was something outdoors so they could watch their precious Naruto-kun.

"Just… things." He said, unconsciously rubbing his left bicep. What his friends didn't know was that today was an unsealing day. It had been eight years since the seals on his bloodlines had been performed. Every couple of years, his body became strong enough to handle another one. He had regained his Akamichi super strength, and the bond with Kouken through the Inuzuka bloodline. Today, he was judged strong enough to handle the Aburame bugs.

Sasuke noticed the gesture. He knew about Naruto's bloodline seals, because once they had unsealed one inside the Uchiha manor. This would have been fine, and no one would have noticed, except for the fact that they picked the room right next to the kitchen and Sasuke had been walking by at that moment to go get some cookies. When he had seen Naruto screaming in pain, he had tried to stop whatever was going on. After he had woken up, Naruto had informed him of the details. Now, Sasuke just wanted to be present whenever Naruto unsealed another one.

* * *

After the academy was out for the day, Naruto and Sasuke ran back to the Uchiha compound. In the designated room for unsealing, Itachi, Ryusha, Sandaime, Ibiki and Hiashi were waiting. Without pause, Naruto jumped onto the table in the middle of the dark room. 

"Are you sure that you're up to this?" Ryusha asked in a worried tone.

Naruto nodded, and, in a moment that would have made any Naruto fan girl drool, pulled off his shirt. Then he started going through some handseals. After a string of many, his right hand was glowing with a purple light. His hand hovered over his left bicep, where most of the seals still remained. He paused over the Uchiha seal, a string of commas. Then he moved up to the plain dark band that was the Nara seal. Naruto easily passed by the ring of swords that signified the Shinkotama seal, came to rest over the centipede that signified the Aburame seal. He pressed down on it, and yelled "KAI!"

The dark centipede glowed pure white, emanating a pure light that illuminated the entire room. Naruto began to scream in pain, as the seal began to dissolve. Segment by segment, the centipede began to disappear. Soon, only the head was left. With a blinding flash, the final segment disappeared, and Naruto was left sitting on the table, panting.

Itachi was the first to break the silence. "Are you ok?" he asked.

"Yeah." Naruto said, breathing heavily. "I better test it to make sure I can use them." He stood up, and focused his chakra. First, he focused it on his eyes. Veins began bulging out, and his purple eyes blanked out and became pure white. "Byakugan seems to work fine."

Then he placed his hands in the ram seal. "**_Naiteki Bunshin! _**(Inner Clone)" he yelled, and another Naruto appeared next to him. Only this one was… different. It began to yell. "ABOUT FUCKING TIME YOU LET ME OUT OF THERE! DO THIS JUTSU MORE OFTEN, YOU-" Naruto dissolved the jutsu, and the clone popped out of existence. "The Inner Persona is fine."

Performing some more seals, the gigantic dragon wings appeared on his back. He gave them a couple of experimental flaps, then decided that they were in good working order. With another seal, the wings dissolved into his back. "The Dragon's Gifts are working."

Next, Naruto went into a meditation pose. "Hey, Kouken! You there?" he asked in his mind.

"Yeah, yeah." The dog thought back. "What do you need?"

Naruto thought about it for a second. To do a true test of the Man-Beast Link, he had to request that the beast do something. He had always had the telepathic link with his dog, but giving him a command was an entirely different thing. Then he got an idea.

Three minutes later, Mizuki was running after a dog who had bitten out the seat of his pants, revealing boxers with little suns with sunglasses on them.

Naruto chuckled. "The Man-Beast link is working fine." For the next test, Naruto simply hit the table he had been sitting on. His massive Akamichi strength made the legs break off from the simple tap. "Still got my Akamichi powers."

Now it was time for the final test: The Aburame insects. Like he did when he was communicating with Kouken, Naruto focused deep inside himself. In a small corner of his mind, hundreds of clacking voices were curled. He sent them a one word mental command: 'Manifest!'

The results were instantaneous. As Naruto opened his eyes, he saw a small hole open up in both of his palms. As soon as the holes were completed, centipedes began crawling out. Seeing this, Sasuke turned rather green, but everyone else watched in open fascination. Then something very, very odd began to happen.

One centipede crawled up onto Naruto's shoulder, then began to… spit silk. Soon, it was wrapped in a cocoon. Naruto looked at the others in confusion. "Do centipedes usually spin cocoons?" he asked. Mutely, the others shook their heads in tandem. Naruto surveyed the centipedes on the floor, and realized that they had all spun cocoons for themselves.

The one on Naruto's shoulder began to crack. Everyone stared at it with baited breath, eager to see what would come out of the silk ball. A pair of huge bulbous eyes, a long abdomen, and four almost see-through wings were revealed. Naruto's centipede had turned into an extremely large dragonfly. Everyone was gaping at it, their mouths hanging open. It swiveled around, as if it weren't comfortable with all of the attention. Then quickly, it flew back into his body through the hole in his hand.

As soon as it was gone, the same thing began to happen to all of the other cocoons. Soon, a swarm of dragonflies were entering the holes in Naruto's hands. After the last one was through, the holes began to seal up, as if nothing had ever happened. Naruto stared at his hands, gaping. "Well, I think it's safe to say that that one works." Itachi said in a monotone.

Naruto stared at Itachi for a moment. "Gee, you think?" he asked sarcastically. Becoming serious once again, he said "I've never heard of the insects mutating before. I'll ask Shibi-tou-san about it later." The others nodded, and congratulated Naruto on his new bloodline. As they left, they all went different places. Right before she left, Ryusha stopped Ibiki.

"Ibiki-san, I had some interrogation work yesterday, and it got a little messy. Could you lend me one of your scrolls?"

Ibiki nodded. "I have just the scroll for you. 'Removing interrogation liquids in six easy steps'." Ryusha nodded, and thanked Ibiki.

* * *

At the Aburame 'hive', Shibi listened in silence to Naruto's description of what happened. The silent Aburame clan head asked, in monotone, "Could you manifest a dragonfly?" No sooner then he asked did a hole open once again in Naruto's hand, and a large dragonfly flew out. 

Shibi took his time inspecting the insect, who was standing rigidly at attention. "Is it possible to still manifest centipedes?"

Naruto concentrated, and out of the hole crawled another centipede. "Yeah, it is."

Shibi looked at the boy calmly through his glasses. "Well, I cannot think of anything that could cause the insects to change in this way. I am sorry, Naruto-kun." Naruto bowed low in respect, then backed out of the room.

The clan head stared after Naruto in bewilderment. An entirely different insect species manifesting? To be fair, Naruto was also the first Aburame to ever manifest centipedes in the first place. Most Aburame used Kikai, and a couple used spiders, but none had ever used centipedes before.

* * *

At the Academy the next day, Naruto was still wondering what happened with his centipedes. Eventually, Inner Naruto provided the voice of wisdom. 'Does it really matter why your bugs have wings now? It makes you better, that's all.' Cocking his head to one side, Naruto agreed that that did make a lot of sense. He was stronger, and as long as the source didn't hurt anyone he cared about, did it mater why? 

Iruka rang a bell, informing the students that it was time for class. Once again, Iruka was standing at the front of the room alone. "I'm sorry class, but Mizuki-sensei won't be here today. He said something about visiting the tailor. So today, instead of me lecturing you, we have a project." At that, everyone sat up straighter. Iruka grinned at their reaction. "Every single one of you has many unique and powerful abilities. But they can be even better when used in tandem. You each must find a way to combine two of your abilities, then demonstrate it to the class. You can begin."

Everyone took out a piece of paper and began to write down a list of their abilities. Naruto looked over Hinata's shoulder. She had written down, 'Basic Jyuken abilities, Byakugan Bloodline, Bunshin no Jutsu, Kawarimi no Jutsu, Henge no Jutsu.'

Next, Naruto peeked over Sasuke's shoulder. His was much the same. It had 'Bunshin no Jutsu, Kawarimi no Jutsu, Henge no Jutsu, Goykakyu no Jutsu, Hinotama no Jutsu, Ryuuka no Jutsu, Housenka no Jutsu.'

Naruto stared at his own blank sheet of paper. He knew too many jutus to just write them down. So he just went into generalities. '25-Gennin Class Jutsus, 10 Chuunin Class Jutsus, 5 Jounin Class Jutsus, Multisize Abilities, Byakugan Bloodline, Inner Persona, Man-Beast Bond, Living Hive, Dragon-Based Powers.' Staring at the sheet, Naruto had an idea. One that would be really cool!

As soon as Naruto was done working out the kinks in his plan, Iruka let them know that time was up. The first person who Naruto knew that presented was Hinata. She had decided to totally ignore her Byakugan based powers, and combine two of the basic academy jutsus: Bunshin and Kawarimi. By creating five clones, then substituting the clones for herself, she could easily confuse an attacker into thinking that none of them were real.

The next one of Naruto's friends to present was Kiba. Kiba had an extremely clever ploy, at least for Kiba. He took out a pair of kunai, attached small bell to them, and threw them at the enemy. Then, using his super human hearing, he could locate the target even with his eyes closed.

Shino was next. What he did was very similar to Hinata's moves. Only he created a Kikai Bunshin, then used Kawarimi with it at the last moment¸ instead of regular Bunshin. Ino was next, and she had a very inventive approach. She simply used **_Shintenshin no Jutsu _**(Mind/Body Swich technique) to take control of the target, then used her chakra control (which was excellent for an academy student, but nothing Hyuuga level) to climb the wall, then switched back. The result was Iruka sensei plummeting to the floor, screaming.

Iruka got up, and dusted himself off. "Good Job, Ino. Next!"

Answering his call for the next person, Chouji got up to the front of the room. Since his techniques were all the 'punch-and-kick' variety, he simply infused chakra into his foot, and stomped on the ground, causing a board to come up and hit Iruka in… uncomfortable places. While the scarred teacher was doubled over in pain, a Multisized punch caught him in the jaw.

Once Iruka had recovered, the rest of the class went. A great majority of them were simply copying Hinata's trick. Or, they all came up with the same idea, and Hinata had simply gone first. Soon, only two people hadn't gone: Sasuke and Naruto. Naruto always wanted to go last, for dramatic affect, while Sasuke wanted to go last because Naruto did. Iruka looked at the two of them with a sigh. It always came down to this. "Boys, which one of you will be going next?"

The two exchanged glances, then each stuck out a hand for their traditional way of deciding things. As one, they chanted "Rock, Paper, Scissors!" and formed their hands into the correct symbols. Sasuke had Rock, while Naruto had paper! Sasuke obediently got up, and walked up to the front of the room, where he performed an interesting fireball combo. He was back at his seat quickly. "Top that, dope."

Naruto nodded. "Ok, I will." He got up, and went down to the front of the room, the eyes of everyone on him. Grinning, he sent a mental command to his centipedes, but not his dragonflys. 'Emerge from my shoulders.' No sooner had the command been sent then no fewer then twenty centipedes crawled out of his shoulder blades. A couple students flinched in disgust, but most watched avidly. Naruto stifled a laugh when he saw a couple students taking notes!

Naruto flashed through a couple of seals that made Kiba's eyes widen in disbelief. "**_Jujin Bunshin no Jutsu! _**(Human Beast Clone Technique)" he cried. The centipedes immediately transformed into copies of Naruto. The only difference between Naruto and the clones was that the clones had the tendency to open and close their mouths, as if clacking their pincers.

Everyone gaped at the 21 Narutos now standing in the front of the room. Iruka scooped his mouth off the floor (figuratively) and said, "Very good job, Naruto."

Naruto nodded at the praise, but then turned his attention to the 20 clones standing on his back. "DO YOU THINK YOU GUYS COULD GET OFF OF ME! YOU'RE REALLY HEAVY!"

* * *

A/N: And that's chapter eight! I hope you liked it! 

On another note, just because I want to say it, I've recently been reading fanfics based in other universes, not just Naruto. I now read Harry Potter, Teen Titans, Dot Hack, and Zoids. My alert list is currently 259 stories and growing (most from Naruto).

While I was here, I also wanted to blatently promote two things. The first is my C2, foxes that love. It's growing quickly, and I only accept the best work.

The other was a fic I read a while ago that is simply one of the best fanfics I've ever read. All of you, go read Never Cut Twice, by shadowmaster62. It's where I blatently stole the idea of Itachi having a pocky addiction. Read it!

Finally, I wanted to remind you to R&R. If three hundred of you care enough to get the little e-mail that lets you know this chapter is out, I hope you care enough to take two minutes and write a short review.

Thanks! See you in Chapter Nine: The Gennin Test!


	9. Nin Test

A/N: Well, sorry for the delay in updating this! I've fallen into the wonderful world of Harry Potter Fan Fiction, but managed to get out for long enough to write the next chapter! It's not very long, but next time should more then make up for it (plus I've read entire fics shorter then this chapter, with words like 'sweatdropped' and 'facevault' and stuff like that. Any way, I present to you, chapter nine: Nin Test

* * *

The entire academy class was watching with bated breath as the combatants met with force. Anko jumped, and the shot tiny dragons out of her sleeves to attach onto her opponent. The ninja from Iwa screamed, and collapsed. The Jounin standing in the middle of the arena raised his left hand and shouted "Winner: Mitarashi Anko!" 

The audience cheered. It had been an excellent opening for the Chunin exams. Anko turned and bowed at the approving crowd, then let her eyes rove over the spectators. They settled on a group of academy students, led by a familiar purple-eyed boy with technicolor hair. She shot a wink at him, which he responded to with a huge smile.

"See, Iruka-sensei?" Naruto said to his teacher. "Aren't you glad we got to see the chunin exams this year?" Naruto, with much cajoling, had made the class take a field trip to the chunin exams. It was good to watch skilled ninjas compete at the best of their abilities. The fact that two of Naruto's friends were competing in it was pure coincidence, right?

Iruka sighed in defeat. His students were learning more from this exhibition then they did in a week staring at the blackboard. "Ok Naruto, you were right and I was wrong. Happy?"

"Very."

The matches continued, with the crowd making the appropriate noises at the correct times. There were gasps when a dramatic new technique was unveiled, applause for the victor, and sympathy for the loser. Before long, it was time for the final match.

The first competitor was Mitarashi Anko. She had easily defeated the male gennin before her, as most of them were distracted by her… obvious assets. They soon learned that no man ogled Anko, as her tiny dragons bit them in places that they would rather not share. The female competitors she fought with were blinded by jealousy, and attacked her viciously without a backup plan. Anko defeated them easily.

But her opponent in the final match knew her too well to be prone to jealousy. Inuzuka Hana, with her three dogs, stood across from her. The prodigy of the canine clan had utterly annihilated all of her opponents quickly, the strongest one last seven minutes against the vicious onslaught.

Naruto stood at the railing, hanging onto the guardrail, hoping that his two friends came out unharmed. Both of them were extremely good fighters, and it wouldn't surprise Naruto at all if the fight ended with a draw. A rustle next to him alerted him that someone new had joined the spectators. He shot a look off to the side to see that Kurenai had decided to join them.

The genjutsu mistress had accelerated rapidly. She had made chunin at her very first exam, and had become a Jounin soon after. She was now one of the youngest Jounin, at the age of eighteen. Naruto grinned at her. "So, Kurenai-chan, who do you think is gonna win?"

Kurenai looked down at her fifteen-year-old friend. "Not sure, Naruto-kun. I think it might be a draw on sheer strength, but Anko is more devious." Naruto nodded at her assessment, then looked over to his other side when Kiba elbowed him.

"Naruto, who's the babe?" Kiba asked. "Can you introduce me?" He blanched at the red-eyed and purple-eyed looks he was getting. Uncharacteristically meek, he backed away slowly. "Never mind."

Naruto and Kurenai turned back to the arena just in time to see the match begin.

With a cry, Hana charged at Anko with a kunai drawn. It was met by a steel blade of Anko's. Both applied all of their strength into their attacks, the blades shaking with the force being applied. At the same time, both gave it up as a lost cause, and jumped back. The two stared at each other, neither moving a muscle. At the same time, both exploded into action. They charged at each other, meeting in the middle!

What followed next could only be described as a dance. Their moves flowed rapidly and elegantly from one stance to the next. The blades whistled through the air, as Anko and Hana threw them. The two kunai met in the middle, with a loud clanging noise, and a small spark igniting. Both of them went into a series of handseals.

"**_Ryusode! _**(Dragon Sleeves)" Anko shouted, and miniature eastern dragons shot out of her sleeve, reaching for the dog girl. Unfortunately, she was no longer there. Anko looked around frantically for her opponent, but then felt a blade poking her in the lower back. Anko let out a sigh. "You had your dogs tunneling around behind me when we had our little kunai fight." She said as a statement, not a question.

Hana let out a self assured chuckle. "Right in one, Anko-chan. Do you give?"

Anko snorted. "Nope." With a quick move, she sat down so the blade was no longer pointed at her. Unfortunately, the kunai had been piercing the back of her shirt. So her maneuver caused it to tear through her upper clothing, slicing her shirt clean off, exposing her to the crowd.

The Inuzuka blushed bright red. "Um, Anko-chan?" Anko looked up at her questioningly. "You do know you're topless right now, correct?" The dragon-girl cocked an eyebrow.

"So?"

While Hana was processing the simple question, Anko was looking around for a plan. She couldn't see anything odd, just the arena. Then she realized what was missing: Hana's dogs. They must still be in the tunnel! A discreet glance showed her the holes that signified both the start and the end. A sadistic smirk crossed Anko's face, and she sprung away from Hana. Quickly, she moved through more seals.

"**_Hitosu! _**(Fire Toss)" she screamed, and sent out a burst of flame at one of the ends. A ring of fire enveloped the hole, making it impossible to escape. Moving quickly, Anko jumped to the other end of the tunnel, and gathered a ball of flames in her hand. "Hana-chan, either you forfeit, or I find out how barbequed canine tastes."

Hana gaped at her friend, stunned. Then a small smile crossed her face. "Using your foes attachments against her. Good job. Referee-san, I forfeit!" Upon hearing those words, Anko extinguished her fire with a thought. The crowd was stunned by the abrupt ending. Everyone stared at the two with slack jaws and bulging eyes.

Then Naruto started to clap. The sound echoed throughout the arena hollowly. Then next to him, Kurenai added her own applause. Then Naruto's entire academy class joined in. The clapping spread like wildfire, and soon the entire stadium was ringing with applause.

The Hokage stood up on his pavilion. "Winner: Mitarashi Anko!" There was some more applause. "All members of the village council, assemble in the tower for deliberations over promotions!"

Iruka looked over his class. "I hope you all enjoyed the tournament. Class dismissed!" The students let out a cheer, and sprinted out of the stadium. Naruto nodded to Kurenai, then moved to join the throng. But he was stopped by a firm hand on his shoulder. He looked up, and saw Hiashi standing there.

"Hiya, Hiashi-tou-san! What's up?"

"Naruto-kun, I need your help with something." The Hyuuga said. Naruto nodded, and gestured for him to continue. "I have to go join the rest of the council to decide who gets promoted. Could you guide Hanabi and her friends back to the compound, then watch them?"

Naruto thought for a second. "Sure. Who're her friends?"

Suddenly, the Hyuuga paled more. "Sorry, gotta run! You take good care of Hanabi and her friends!" With that, he practically ran out of the arena. Naruto stared after him in shock. It dawned on him what could cause that kind of reaction in the normally unshakable Hiashi.

'Oh no… He didn't leave me with-' Naruto thought, but was interrupted when he was hit by two kids squealing "Naruto-kun!" Suddenly, Naruto was having trouble breathing.

"Kurochi-chan, Metsuki-chan, I can't breathe!" Naruto gasped out. The two small girls let go and grinned sheepishly. Naruto smiled back at the two of the Uchiha triplets that were looking at him. When Fuguku had launched his failed plan, only five Uchiha had been left out. They were Itachi, Sasuke, and the three triplets, Kurochi, Metsuki, and Hishin.

Naruto looked at the two in front of him. Both were about a head shorter then he was, and they looked almost identical. They were, after all, members of a set of identical triplets. After many people confused the three, they eventually had decided to grow their hair into different styles for an identifying trait. Kurochi had grown a long ponytail, sort of like Ino's, while Metsuki had opted for a shoulder length cut with streaks of dark red in it. Naruto had to admit, even though they were both younger then he was (by about a year), they were still knockouts. It seemed that all Uchiha women developed quickly at a young age.

There was the sound of someone clearing their throat behind them. "Kurochi, Metsuki, doesn't it embarrass you at all to tackle Naruto-sama?" a calm voice asked. Naruto looked up to see Hyuuga Hanabi with the last one of the sisters, Uchiha Hishin (who had a waist-length braid). Hanabi was the one who had spoken. She walked up, elbowed in between Kurochi and Metsuki, then bowed to Naruto. "It is a pleasure to see you, Naruto-sama."

Naruto grinned. "Hanabi-chan, how many times have I told you, It's Naruto-kun, or just Naruto. I hate formality!"

"Sorry, Naruto-sama."

"What did I just tell you!"

Now the corners of Hanabi's mouth were defiantly twitching. "What, Naruto-sama? Is there a problem with me calling you Naruto-sama, Naruto-sama? I can't imagine what it could be, Naruto-sama. So Naruto-sama, did you enjoy the tournament? I thought it was very good, Naruto-sama." At this point, Naruto was turning bright red and was fighting not to tear his hair out.

Hanabi broke out in peals of laughter. "Sorry, Naruto-kun. I couldn't resist."

* * *

The rest of the day passed in an enjoyable fashion, with Metsuki and Kurochi staring with doe-eyes at Naruto, Hanabi slipping back into calling Naruto 'Naruto-sama' every once in a while (she claimed it was to keep him on his toes), and Hishin just rolling her eyes every once in a while at her sisters (and friends) antics. 

They spent the rest of the day training. Or, Naruto did. Hanabi joined him occasionally for some jyuken sparring, while Hishin worked on missile weapons, the topic she was covering in the academy at that moment. As for the other two, they were just watching Naruto shadow-box. Little hearts were dancing in their eyes, and drool began to come out once Naruto was forced to take off his shirt.

After a while, Hiashi came to find them. "Thank you very much, Naruto-kun." The Hyuuga head said. "The promotions have been assigned, and you will be pleased to know that both Anko and Hana became Chunin." The look he sent Naruto said very clearly 'Thanks for saving my ass. I can't take all four of them!' Naruto rolled his eyes as Hiashi gathered the girls.

But before they left, he was suddenly tackled once again by Kurochi and Metsuki. "Bye, Naruto-kun!" they said in unison, before running back towards Hiashi. Hishin waved goodbye while Hanabi walked up, standing close to the still-stunned Naruto.

"It's been fun, Naruto-kun." She said, and reached up for a hug. As Naruto embraced her, he was suddenly made aware that she was also extremely well endowed for a fourteen-year old. She just hid it better then the Uchiha triplets. The moment that thought crossed his mind, Hanabi planted a light kiss on his cheek. "Till next time." She murmured, then skipped back to her father in an extremely good mood. Hiashi guided them away, as Naruto looked on, feeling extremely shocked and rubbing his cheek.

* * *

That night, Naruto was lying down on his soft bed, wondering what was going on. 'Why the hell am I feeling funny! Hanabi, Ino, Kurochi, Metsuki, hell, even Kurenai, what the hell is going on!' He mentally slapped himself. 'I'll think about this later. Gennin exam tomorrow! Gotta eat lots of ramen, gotta drink milk, gotta kick Mizuki-teme's ass!' 

At the Hyuuga compound, Hanabi was lying down in her bed. She was dreaming, and it was too naughty a dream for most people to think Hyuugas had. She murmured out loud in her sleep. "Yes, Naruto-sama. What ever you say? Am I a bad girl for calling you Naruto-sama? Are you going to punish me?" The bodyguard assigned to Hanabi, and was thus right outside her door, and could hear everything, was resisting the urge to cover his ears and start yelling 'LA LA LA!'

The same scenario was playing itself out throughout Konoha, over a few girls. "My, your muscles are so big, Naruto-kun!" Ino said in her sleep with a giggle.

The triplets were rolling over in their shared bed. Two of them were giggling madly while murmuring Naruto's name, while Hishin was lying there thinking 'Why me, Kami-sama? Couldn't someone else deserve this punishment more? Why do we have to share the same bed!'

Anko was still awake, and was looking at herself in her new chunin vest. 'Maybe I should unzip it a little more? I mean, what guy doesn't like a girl that shows a little skin?'

Sakura was lying there. "I love you Sasuke-kun! I love you Sasuke-kun!" she was saying in her sleep. "I love you Sasuke-kun! I love you Sasuke-kun! I love you Naruto-kun! I love you Sasuke-kun!"

In his sleep, Naruto sneezed. Many times. Nine times to be exact. Naruto's bodyguard grinned as they heard the sneezes. "Lots of girls are thinking of Naruto-sama." Ryoto said.

"I hope they're girls, anyway." Choda said with a shudder.

* * *

The next morning, Naruto was wondering why his nose itched. For a moment anyway. "Don't care! EXAMS!" he yelled, and ran downstairs, past Ibiki who was reading yet another cleaning scroll entitled 'Lemon Juice- Vomit's nemesis!'. "Hi Ibiki-nii-san! Bye Ibiki-Nii-san!" he yelled, and was out the door in a flash. 

At the Academy, it was time to perform the Bunshin no Jutsu that was required for the exam. Almost everyone had passed, except for one kid who was only there because his parents wanted him to be. Finally, it was Naruto's turn. He ran up. "**_Bunshin no Jutsu! _**(Clone Technqiue)" he yelled, and produced a couple dozen clones.

Iruka looked at Naruto, shaking his head. Really, he should have stopped being surprised by his pupil a long time ago. "Congratulations, Naruto!" he said, and gave Naruto a headband. "You are now an official ninja of leaf village!"

Off to the side, Mizuki was watching with disguised hatred. 'Damn it, now I'll have to find another brat for my plan!' he thought. Not knowing his sadistic teachers thoughts, Naruto ran out the door with a whoop of excitement. As he was running, he realized something:

'Just because I've passed the first test doesn't mean I'm king of the world! I've gotta train more! Gotta get better!' he thought, and ran off to a forest clearing which he knew was always deserted. He would spend the rest of the day and most of the night there, and was there when the silver-haired schemer put his plan into action.

* * *

A/N: For all those who want to see Mizuki get his ass handed to him, that's next chapter! It should be out by next tuesday! But now, as a reward for reading this story (and in 743 reviews!) I will now reveal to you... the exact contents of Naruto's harem! 

It might seem freakishly big to some, and really small to others, but I really want to put all of the following girls in it. Rest assured, there will be backstory and reasons for all of them.

The girls are: Ino, Ten-Ten, Hanabi, Metsuki, Kurochi, Sakura, Kurenai, Anko, Hana, Temari, Haku

Oh, and some of you might have notice: I aged them up a little. The reason is: I'm writing a harem fic. I'm not waiting until I get to Naruto II to write romance! I'm actually starting to get into it next chapter!

Next time in All for One: Kicking Ass, and Tests of Manhood


	10. Failings and Foxes

A/N: FINALLY! I have been tryign to post this chapter for two hours now! Stupid FF net servers! Upgrade the things once in a while! Well, It took me a while, but I managed to post this chapter. I still couldn't upload a document, so I exported a copy of chapter one, then replaced the text with everything from chapter 10. So any formatting errors, blame on that. I'll try posting a regular one tomorrow. Well, while I'm here, I'll answer some reviews.

To everyone who noticed the age change and Didn't bother to read the Author's Notes: Those things are there for a reason! I don't post them for kicks! I explained the age change last AN, go and read it then.

Everyone who said this story rocks: Thanks, it's reviews like yours that keep this story going.

VFSNAKE: I'll consider that. Good ideas.

El Spazitano: She's in there cause, well, I like Sakura. For a more indepth answer, read the bottom AN.

Truth is what you make of it: Um... I disagree.

Egghead: Sorry about that, but it was one of my polls a while back. Besides, I still think cannon Haku is a girl (she was just lying).

Neko-Youkai: Yup. I've got plans for Sasuke though.

Dobe-Teme: I've got a good pairing for Hinata all lined up. And no, it's not Sasuke or Kiba.

Soul of the Silver Phoenix: chuckles Oh, that'll change.

Master of Anime: Nah, as much as I'd like another PS2, I've got plans for Shiz-chan.

Anime Goddes: Nope, Sorry

Never Give Guns to Chimps: He has Six Bloodlines Unlocked, Three Sealed, and One Dormant.

Dragon and Sword Master: I'm always glad to here that people think stuff I write is somewhat Funny. And Kyuubi will show soon.

Daniel Goldberg: You raise a good point in telling mentioning that it's an AU, and listing the reasons. I'll do that once stops being screwy.

Well, that's all of the ones that didn't repeat! On with Chapter Ten: Failings and Foxes!

* * *

Damu Ikeike was a scared gennin. He was one of the only people who had failed the graduation exam. It wasn't his fault that he stayed up late last night! His girlfriend had finally been ready to have sex! It was a once in a lifetime chance! But because of the exhaustion, Ikeike had been low on chakra, and had only produced two of the required three bunshin for the final exam. 

But then Mizuki-sensei had come to him, and offered him an alternative test. All he had to do was sneak into the Hokage tower, take a giant scroll out from the old man's desk, then meet Mizuki-sensei in a forest clearing. But it looked like the ninja on guard at the tower hadn't been informed about the test! They were all chasing him, throwing kunai and the occasional Katon jutsu.

'Shit! Shit! Shit!' Ikeike screamed in his head. He was still cursing when he got to the clearing Mizuki-sensei had told him to meet him at. He looked around frantically. 'I've gotta get Mizuki-sensei to tell them about the test!' he thought. But he couldn't find Mizuki. Instead, he saw Naruto practicing some chakra control on the ground.

Naruto didn't notice anything. His chakra control was being brought to the limit, as he shot enough chakra out of seventeen of his tenketsu simultaneously, using a precise amount of chakra to hold seventeen pebbles in midair. But he was snapped out of his zen-like state when a large scroll dropped in front of him. A small rain of pebbles followed his lack of focus. Ignoring the rocks, Naruto picked up the scroll, and opened it. 'Whoa!' Naruto thought.

* * *

Ikeike ran away. He'd seen Naruto, and knew he was a trustworthy guy, no matter what his parents said. Naruto would tell Mizuki-sensei what happened when he showed up, and Ikeike would be promoted to gennin. It was foolproof!

* * *

Naruto was scanning through the forbidden scroll with a look akin to awe on his face. He wasn't stopping to study any of the techniques, but he was getting all of their names. 'Kage Bunshin no Jutsu, Shinko Henge no Jutsu, Soshi Renda no Jutsu, Shiki Fuujin no Jutsu!' Naruto thought. Those were just four of the standouts on the scroll, but all of the others were amazing as well. As Naruto continued to pour through the scroll, Mizuki landed on a nearby tree. 

"Naruto! What're you doing here? Where's Ikeike?" he asked.

Naruto waved a hand at him distractedly. "Be with you in a minute, Mizuki-sensei."

A vein began to pulse on the evil teachers head. 'Who does that brat think he is?' he thought. "Listen here, brat! Give me that scroll now!"

Naruto finished scanning through the scroll, and closed it with a snap. "Sorry, Mizuki-sensei. You're not getting this for two reasons. The first is that I'm using it. The second is that when I'm done using it, I'm giving it back to the Hokage where it belongs." He looked up at Mizuki, who was doing a nice fish imitation. "What? I know what this is, and I know no ones supposed to have it! For crying out loud, it has the word 'forbidden' in it's title!"

"You little brat!" Mizuki screamed, and pulled the giant shuriken off of his back. With a war cry, he let fly, and a circle of metallic death flew at Naruto. Naruto raised his hand casually, and gave his wrist a flick. A pair of kunai shot out of his sleeve, and intercepted the oversized weapon.

Naruto shook his head, and made some clucking noises. "Tsk, Tsk, Mizuki-sensei. Trying to kill a gennin to keep your secret. Embarrassing, but not as embarrassing failing to kill the gennin." Naruto pulled a knapsack off his back, and dropped the scroll into it while Mizuki was still gaping at the deflected shuriken. Once the scroll was in a safe place, Naruto assumed a fighting stance. "Now I get to fulfill every schoolboy's fantasy: kicking the teacher's ass."

Screaming angrily, Mizuki charged at Naruto. With a jump, and a kick, Mizuki was sent back the way he came. While the enraged teacher was picking himself up off the ground, Naruto thought 'I want this to be as humiliating for him as possible.' With that thought, Naruto left the Suimeiashi stance, and entered one known and feared around the world: the jyuken stance. Focusing, Naruto's purple eyes faded away, leaving the veins and pure white of the most famous bloodline in Konoha.

Running quickly at Mizuki, Naruto's hands lanced out. His fingers, infused with a gentle mix of his chakra, lightly touched ten areas in Mizuki's arms. Immediately, his chakra sprung out, and into Mizuki's tenketsu. Now, with all of the chakra pores in his arms closed, there was no possible way for Mizuki to perform any jutsus. He sprang back as Mizuki tried to hit him with another sharp object.

"Finding it a little hard to do jutsus, Mizuki-_sensei_?" Naruto asked, with a sneering tone on the last word. "Well, I'm going to use you as a training dummy for some of the things I haven't gotten to test, ok?" Not waiting for Mizuki's response, not that he would have paid attention anyway, he reached into his back pocket.

Instead of producing a weapon, like Mizuki expected, Naruto took out- a small piece of paper with an intricate seal on it. He crumpled it up with one hand, and it faded away. In its place was a long metal spear, as long as Naruto was tall, with a heavy bronze spearhead at the end. "This is my personal weapon. I forged it myself, to prove myself a man in the Shinkotama clan. I haven't really thought of a name for it yet, but I will soon." He assumed another fighting stance, spear held at the ready. "Now are you going to come, or sit there preening your feathers, chicken?"

With another roar, the enraged, treacherous teacher charged at the gennin. With a smirk, Naruto counter charged. But at the last second, he sidestepped and Mizuki ran straight past him. With a quick move, the butt of Naruto's spear pole crashed into the back of Mizuki's knee. Mizuki collapsed, writhing in pain while holding his knee.

"Damn, you're pathetic!" Naruto exclaimed. "Well, at least I'll get to test one more thing on you." Jumping back, Naruto landed a couple yards away from the injured traitor. With a quick maneuver, Naruto pushed two seals that were inscribed in the spear. Immediately, the spearhead and the butt disappeared. "You see, Mizuki-teme, this weapon has four seals in it. The first simply regulates the temperature. No matter what goes on inside or out of this spear, it shall always be the same temperature. One of the others stores and releases the spearhead. The last one stores and releases the end. Once those two disappear, we are left with a perfectly hollow metal pole."

Going into a high-pitched, girlish tone, Naruto asked "What's the point?" Naruto grinned and nodded, clearly mocking his prone foe. In his regular voice, he said, "I'm glad that you asked that, Mizuki-teme. Good to see you're paying attention." With a sanctimonious nod, he said "Well, the purpose is because of the third seal. It's actually one of a pair of seals- transporter seals to be exact. This is the receptacle seal, meaning that when I push it, whatever is around the other seal is transported to the inside of this here pole, making it like a blowgun. Do you want to know where the other seal is?"

Mizuki glared at him, and Naruto released a huge grin. "Good! Always glad to answer questions. The other seal is inside a chain of methane pockets! It was hard to get them in there, I'll tell you! So when I press this seal, a ton of methane gas will come out of the pole. Methane gas is, what's the word…, oh yeah, extremely flammable! Or, inflammable. I was never really able to get the difference between the two. So I'll breathe a simple katon jutsu through one end of the tube, and a huge fireball comes out the other side! Exciting, no?"

"Well, I've talked long enough. Time for a demonstration!" Naruto inhaled, preparing a fire jutsu. But he stopped when Mizuki began to stutter out something in a cruel and vindictive tone.

"Don't you want to know why everyone hates you?" He breathed out. "Why everyone wants to kill you, and treats you like shit?"

Naruto froze. There was a reason? He'd always thought people hated him because of who he was! "Why? Why do people hate me?"

Mizuki grinned evilly. "It's because you are the-"

But he never finished his sentence. The reason why became apparent quickly: Naruto's bodyguard had appeared. Jobi, the Aburame bodyguard, stepped forward. "Finish that sentence, and you will not live to see another moment." The bug user looked over at Naruto. "I apologize for not getting involved sooner, Naruto-sama. But you were enjoying yourself too much to do so."

Ryoto jumped down. "Yeah, Naruto-sama! You were acting just like a Mitarashi there! But remember the first rule of the Mitarashi!"

Naruto snapped to attention, and reeled off the designated rule. "If you're causing pain to someone who has wronged you, do not be afraid to enjoy it. But only enjoy it if it is someone that's wronged you!"

Ryoto nodded. "Good job. Now, let's get these three people back to the Hokage tower."

Naruto looked around. There was just him, Mizuki, and his bodyguard. "But, Ryoto-chan, there's only two of us here."

The dragon lady winked at him. "I know. But we've always said you're good enough to be two and a half people. The bastard over here is worth maybe a half of a person." With that flattering comment, she flicked her wrist. Small dragons shot out and encircled Mizuki, effectively tying him up. The thirteen people (and one restrained Mizuki) bounded to the Hokage tower.

* * *

Ten minutes later, Naruto was standing in said tower, in front of the wizened old man. Hizashi, as the senior member of the bodyguard, was reporting what had happened. "… Then we tied him up, and brought him here." He finished.

The Hokage nodded. "Thank you, Hizashi-san. Could you all please take Mizuki down to the dungeons? I need to have a word with Naruto-kun." The bodyguard nodded as one, and took the squirming traitor out of the room. That left Naruto and the Sandaime staring at each other in silence.

Naruto broke the silence. "Why does everyone hate me? I just thought that they hated me because of something I did, or something, but Mizuki-teme said that there was a reason!"

The old man sighed, and leaned back in his chair. "The reason everyone of the civilians, and a good half of the clans, hates you is a village secret." Naruto looked at him questioningly. "That is, the reason is classified. Are you sure you want to know?"

Naruto nodded emphatically.

"Ok, Naruto. Let me tell you a story about a brave man who would do anything for his village. That man was the Yondaime Hokage. He was the ruler of this village, until he gave his life to-"

"Kill Kyuubi, the demonic nine-tailed fox. I know that already."

"Wrong! It is impossible to kill a demon. So he settled for the next best thing- sealing it away." The Hokage looked over his tented fingers at the teenager in front of him. "Surely you can guess where this conversation is going."

Naruto stared at the old man, his mouth hanging open and his eyes wide with shock. "Y-you mean that, Kyuubi no Kitsune, strongest of the tailed demons, evil, malevolent force of nature, is sealed inside of me!" He waited for the Hokage's sad nod. Naruto slumped back into his seat. "Well, that would explain some things."

The Hokage's curiosity was peaked. "Such as?"

"I break bones all the time, but they heal almost instantly. I talked with my bugs, and they say they had nothing to do with it. My insects have also started to change into other insects. That could be caused by feeding off of another form of chakra. But I have one question, oji-san." Sandaime nodded, and waited for Naruto to ask. "Why didn't anyone tell me this before? You, all my tou-sans, my kaa-sans, my nii-sans, my nee-sans, why didn't anyone tell me!"

The Hokage looked at him calmly. "First off, the younger generation knows nothing. I passed a law making it illegal to mention it to anyone of the younger generation. The youngest person who knows is Itachi-san. That's why your siblings never told you. As to why we never told you before, we wanted you to be happy. We wanted you to have a happy childhood, and to live like a child. I believe that they were planning on telling you once you became a man in all of your families."

Naruto nodded. 'That makes a kind of sense. They would have told me once I created the jutsu for Kakashi-tou-san.' Naruto looked up at his grandfather-figure. "Oji-san, I have one more question."

"Ask away, Naruto-kun."

"Can I keep the scroll for a little while? I can learn so much from it!"

The Hokage grinned. "It is the property of the Uzumaki clan head actually, not mine. So you can keep it once you have attained the level of clan head."

Naruto gaped at the fact that his clan had created this powerful scroll, then cleared his head and said "But, I'm the last Uzumaki. So doesn't that make me clan head by default?"

"It would, but you are not at the level of clan head. A clan head must be recognized as an adult by his family. And one other thing. I'll tell you about that later."

Once again, Naruto nodded, shocking the Hokage with the level of maturity in the teen. "I'll ask about that once I've passed my last test!" With that, he tossed the scroll over to the Hokage. "I'll be back for that later!" he shouted, and ran out the door.

Sandaime smirked. Then he paged his secretary. "Assemble the thirteen main clan heads in my office, effective immediately."

"Right away sir!"

Ten minutes later, the heads of the thirteen clans were assembled in the office of the Hokage. Torahi stepped forward. "To what do we owe this honor, Hokage-sama?"

"To Naruto-kun, of course."

Hiashi grinned. "What did he do now?"

"Stopped a traitor and protected village secrets." The Hokage said in a manner of fact tone. At seeing the thirteen gaping mouths, he launched into an account of that night's events. At the end, all of them were grinning. The old man turned to Kakashi. "Kakashi-san, I expect Naruto will want to demonstrate a new jutsu to you later today."

Kakashi smiled under his mask. "I don't doubt it. Is that all, Hokage-sama?"

"No, I thought you all might like to be aware of Naruto's team assignment. We didn't want him to be under of the senseis from the clans, for fear they'd show favoritism. There weren't many open spots, but Naruto and one other gifted student will be added into an already existing team, making a team of four under one Jounin. Here's the roster." He held out a piece of paper, and thirteen sets of eyes poured over it.

There was a moment of silence, which was broken once again by Kakashi. "You've gotta be shitting me."

* * *

Back at the forest clearing, Naruto was thinking about a way to create a jutsu. 'I'm good at elemental jutsu, specifically earth and fire. I also like to kick, and have good chakra control. Hmmm… Maybe that'd work.' With an idea, Naruto began pounding out a way to create a jutsu of his very own.

Four hours later, the sun was beginning to come up, and Naruto was tired yet ecstatic. "I'VE GOT IT!" he screamed to the world. "YES! I'M AWESOME!" With that, he took off running to the Hatake estate.

* * *

Kakashi was working on some morning exercises when he heard Naruto's cry. "Wow." He said to himself. "That was fast." Soon, a dust cloud on the horizon and numerous yelps of joy announced that Naruto was approaching. Not a moment too soon, Kakashi sidestepped, and Naruto went skidding past him.

"Kakashi-tou-san! I've got it! I made a super-kick-ass jutsu!" he shouted, overjoyed with his accomplishment.

Kakashi looked at his adopted son fondly. "I heard you before, Naruto-kun. Demonstrate please! Training dummy is over there."

Naruto looked at the training dummy, and began going through some hand seals. Tiger, Horse, Dog, ending in Bird. Then he focused the accumulated chakra into his left leg, then down into his foot. As Kakashi watched, gaping, the dirt around his foot glowed red, and transformed into lava. The lava formed a mold around Naruto's foot.

Then, with breathtaking speed, Naruto ran at the dummy. With a lightning-fast kick, the lava-encased foot sliced through the neck of the training dummy like a hot knife through butter. The head flew off, landing ten feet away. As it landed, it glowed red hot, then disintegrated into a pile of ashes.

Kakashi was gaping at the powerful justu. It was clearly an assassination jutsu, meant to kill the opponent in one shot, no wounding involved. "What do you call it?" He asked.

Naruto grinned. "**_Kazanashi _**(Volcano Foot)" he murmured.

Kakashi gaped for another moment, then began applauding. "I'm proud of you, Naruto-kun! It is defiantly a powerful assassination jutsu! I want you to record it in the Hatake archives under A-Class! But first, you might want this." He held out a package wrapped in black fabric.

Eagerly, Naruto grabbed it. Hastily, he removed the fabric, which was in fact, his own mask. "Every wears a mask somewhere. I recommend you put it around your neck for right now." Kakashi said, and Naruto nodded, and quickly donned the mask. But the mask had been wrapped around something: a bright orange book. Naruto looked at Kakashi questioningly.

The copy ninja let out a perverse giggle. "Almost every man reads that. Just, most do it in private." Shaking his head, Naruto gaped at his perverted foster father. Mimicking his actions, Kakashi shook off his own perverseness, at least temporarily. "The Hokage also wanted me to give you this." He handed over a brown envelope. Naruto quickly opened it, and read the short note inside.

It read: '_Naruto-kun, you didn't want to hear the other condition of being a clan head. You must either have been in ANBU, which you won't be able to do for a while, or take the second option. The second option can be taken care of quickly, and with your clan privileges, you should be able to take any discomfort away from you at a later date. The second option is to-" _

Naruto looked at the last part of the letter uncomprehendingly. Then an anguished shout came out of his mouth. "BUT I'M TOO YOUNG TO BE MARRIED!"

Naruto slapped himself. 'But I could.' He thought. 'I could get married multiple times, for crying out loud. I'm a practitioner of polygamy, which means, I think, I can get hitched to multiple girls at the same time, as long as they agree. Now, who do I think I could love?' Naruto thought for another couple of moments.

Then, without a word to Kakashi (who was still shocked from his last outburst), Naruto bounded off, in the direction of the Shinkotama compound.

* * *

A/N: Well, that was chapter ten. I hope you liked it (it took long enough to post!) 

Well, on to my discussion about the Harem. I forgot one when I posted last: Kin. She's in there, because, well, you'll find out later. But back to the Harem in general. Each girl there will have a different reason for hooking up with Naruto (most of those I don't want to go in to right now, but I can tell you that Temari will be a political marrige). So each girl will definitly be different, and will not be fricken fan club.

Next order of business: Keep Reviewing! I want to get 1000 soon!

Last order of business: Next chapter! It'll be out by next week! (assuming doesn't screw up again!)

See ya next week! Rememberto R&R!


	11. Girlfriends and Gai

A/N: Well, two days earlier then expected, it's time for chapter eleven! This chapter practically wrote itself, as I got so many good ideas. It's also almost 5000 words! I hope you guys enjoy it! It marks the first girl in the Harem! YAY HAREM!

* * *

Chapter Eleven: Girlfriends and Gai

'Ramen. Is there anything it can't fix?' Naruto thought, as he looked into his bowl of the savory food. Muttering a couple of words, Naruto dug in. As he slurped his noodles down, his thoughts turned to his current predicament. If he wanted to get that scroll from the Hokage, he had to be a clan head. If he wanted to be a clan head, he either had to be in ANBU (which he had no shot at), or be married. If he wanted to be married, he had to find a girl. And Naruto knew exactly which girl he wanted to ask. He had been bounding to ask her when he stopped at Ichiraku to figure out how to ask her.

'Hey, Ten-Ten.' Naruto thought. 'Well, I need to get married. I've had a crush on you for a really long time, and I know you're the only girl who I'd ask who wouldn't either faint or slap me. So, what'd you say?' Naruto shook his head. 'No, that's stupid. That'd never work.'

After another five minutes of trying to think of a proposal, Naruto gave up. 'It's just a scroll. I can ask Ten-Ten out on a date, and it'll still be there in a couple years. Besides, if I work hard enough, I'll get into ANBU, and won't need to get married to assume the clan head position.' Finishing his seventh bowl of ramen, Naruto put some money on the table, and turned around to leave. But as he jumped off of the stool, there was the familiar poof of smoke that signified a teleportation jutsu. Instinctively assuming a combat stance, he relaxed when he saw a Hyuuga-Branch member, kneeling in front of him.

"Naruto-sama!" The man gasped out. "Emergency clan meeting at your home! You need to be there now!" As soon as he finished the message, Naruto was on his way home.

He opened the door to his house minutes later, and rushed into the living room. Gathered there were all of the clan heads that Naruto was either related to or was friendly with. Naruto looked around, and saw that all of his Tou-san's were there, a couple of his Kaa-san's were there, and there was also Ibiki, and his friend Hyate. "What's going on?" Naruto asked.

It was Itachi that answered. "The council is acting up again." Naruto nodded. The council had been trying to get him killed for years. On the council were the thirteen major clans, and there were around fifty five minor clans. The only way it was possible to overrule the major clans on anything on the council was if almost all of them banded together. Fortunately, that rarely happened in most cases. Unfortunately, Naruto was perhaps the one topic that they regularly united on.

"What happened this time?" Naruto inquired.

"The Ketsunoana are clamoring for payback after you defeated Mizuki. Mizuki is also claiming that you stole the forbidden scroll, and that you crushed him when he tried to retrieve it." Hiashi responded. Naruto snorted. "Unfortunately, it's a case of your word against his, because the testimony of your bodyguard has been outlawed, due to the fact that they're all related to you. And most of them are more willing to listen to Mizuki."

"Most of them?"

This time, Ibiki spoke up. "Yes, most of them. The major clans, as you might have guessed, are firmly against this, as are the Morino. The Gekkou side with the Morino on this, and the Umino and the Maito are on the fence. But the rest of the council still has more then enough force on it's side to defeat thirteen great clans, and two to four lesser ones."

Naruto knew that they wouldn't have called him here if they didn't have a plan. If they didn't have a plan, they'd be smuggling him out of the village. "What do you need me to do?"

Hiashi took a deep breath. "We need you to assume the mantle of Uzumaki clan head."

After a moment of blank shock, Naruto asked "What would that do?"

"With fourteen major clans and two minor ones, we would have enough votes to overrule this proposition. So basically, you have two choices." Torahi stated. "The first is that you don't become clan head, and we knock you out and hide you in a wagon bound for Earth Country. Or, you do become clan head and stop these damn attempts once and for all."

Naruto thought. When put like that, there really was no choice at all. "But don't I have to be married or in ANBU to be a clan head?"

At that, small smiles appeared and were wiped away on the faces of the clan heads with daughters (or in Itachi's case, younger cousins). Inoichi grinned widely as he said "Really? That thought never crossed our minds, Naruto-kun. But since you've brought it up, kindly tell us who you think you should marry."

"You mean, who should I marry first?"

Everyone stared at him blankly. Speaking for all of them, Torahi asked "What do you mean, first?"

"It means that the Uzumaki practice polygamy. We are within our rights to marry multiple times. Besides, as the last of the clan, I am allowed to have multiple wives anyways as stated in the Clan Revival act." Naruto stated. Hiashi spoke up.

"But just because you can do something doesn't mean you should."

"I am well aware of that. The only reason I'm doing this is because I refuse to let my clan die. According to my clan history scroll, the Uzumaki date back to well before Konoha was founded. I refuse to be the one that killed the Uzumaki." Naruto said with determination. "But even with that in mind, I will assure you I will not marry anyone for anything but love. As much as I would hate to see my clan die, I would hate to see someone be with me because they have to be."

The clan heads looked at Naruto, who was exuding determination. They knew that they would do the same if they were in his position, and he knew that they knew. But they also respected the teen, because he had spoken of his refusal to marry someone who didn't love him with such conviction that all of them knew he spoke the truth. Itachi finally broke the silence. "Ok, Naruto-kun, who do you want to marry first?"

Naruto thought for a second. "Well, to be entirely honest, I don't want to get married right now."

A group of incredulous looks met that declaration. Ibiki spoke up for the first time that meeting. "But Naruto, if you don't, you're going to either have to flee Konoha or be executed!"

"Well, not necessarily." Naruto said with a grin. "You all know how almost everyone outside of the thirteen clans hates me?" Fifteen simultaneous nods met that statement. "And unless I learned my Shinobi Law lessons wrong, in most cases clan laws supercede council laws?" Once again, more nods. "And correct me if I'm wrong, but no one outside the clan knows all the clan laws?" Yet again, fifteen nods. "Then I have a plan. But for it to work, I'm gonna need some help."

He turned towards Tenoshi and Inoichi. "Tenoshi-tou-san, Inoichi- tou-san, I'm going to need to speak with Ten-Ten and Ino. Everyone else, just watch!" After a stunned pause, all of the clan heads, save one, nodded and scattered, with Tenoshi and Inoichi headed home to find their daughters. Torahi, however, stayed where he was.

"Naruto-kun, just so you know, if you do somehow become the Uzumaki head, you will no longer be eligible to be guarded by the bodyguard. It is written in the laws that clan heads can only be guarded by members of their own clan." He said.

"That's a risk I'll take. Besides, I'll reform the Uzumaki to their prior power before you know it!" Naruto said. Torahi nodded, and ran off towards the Mitarashi compound.

Not five minutes later, Ino and Ten-Ten arrived at Naruto's home, panting heavily. Naruto showed them into the living room, and they both sat down. Ten-Ten said "Naruto-kun, Tou-san said you needed me here and it was really important." Ino nodded her agreement.

"Well, the fact is, if you two don't help me now, I'm going to be executed or run out of the village." Ino stifled a gasp, while Ten-Ten bit her lip hard. "So, will you help me?"

The two exchanged glances, then looked back at the blonde gennin. "Of course, stupid." Ten-Ten said. "You know that we'd do anything to help!" All that time, Ino was nodding so vigorously that Naruto was sure she'd be getting dizzy soon. He sat down across from the two girls.

"Thanks! You two are great." He said. "Now, the first thing: Ten-chan, will you be my fake girlfriend?" At that, the two stifled gasps again.

Here, Ino was slowly turning red with rage. 'Why's he asking her for that! He knows I'd do that for him in a heartbeat! Why bother asking the mousy-haired pointy object throwing tramp!' At that moment, Naruto answered her question. "Ino-chan, the reason I'm not asking you is because you're vital for the other role in my plan. You're well known as the village gossip, and that's vital to my plan." That mollified Ino somewhat.

Ten-Ten was mulling over Naruto's proposal. "Sure." She said. "I'll do it."

"Thanks tons, Ten-chan!" He said with a wide grin. "Now here's what I need you two to do…"

After explaining his plans to the girls, Naruto went to lie down on his bed. The fireworks would be starting soon, and he wanted to be well rested when they began.

* * *

Litei's medicinal was the place to be for any medicine needs in Konoha. It sold cosmetic drugs, headache cures, soldier pills, and almost anything else you could need in a ninja village (at least when it came to medicine). It was here that Ino and Ten-Ten went after their meeting with Naruto. They hastily went inside and trawled the aisles until they found the section they needed: Sexual enhancers. 

Once they got there, they waited for a few minutes, until there was a fairly large crowd bustling around them. Then they started rummaging through the section. "Where is it?" Ten-Ten said loudly enough to be overheard, but not loud enough to be suspicious.

"What exactly are we looking for?" Ino asked, seemingly oblivious.

"Two things actually. One thing to make me ultra-fertile, and another to make Naruto-kun super potent." At that, half of the people eavesdropping on the 'private' conversation gasped. There was only one Naruto in Konoha.

Ino let out a gasp of her own. "You mean that you and Naruto-kun, you two are going to do it? And try to have a child? Why! I mean, that figure would be totally ruined by a kid!"

Ten-Ten let out a girlish giggle. "I know, it's really sudden! But Naruto-kun said if he got me pregnant, then it would definitely make him clan head of the Uzumaki. Something about clan laws. Come on! Lets look harder!" The two dug into the items fervently, before getting the items they 'needed'.

A ninja overhearing this conversation let out a gasp. This was important, if it would save the demon child. The elders had to be informed, and this had to be stopped no matter what! She bounded off toward the tower at full speed, hoping she could make it in time.

Back at the medicinal store, Ten-Ten and Ino wore identical grins. Ino whispered "Stage One, Complete!"

After that, Ten-Ten wasted no time. She waved good-bye to Ino (who went off to gossip about the situation), and took off towards Naruto's home. As soon as she got there, Naruto flung the door open and pulled her inside. Quickly, the two ran into the kitchen, where Ten-Ten opened the boxes of Sexual Enhancers she had just bought and emptied them down the drain of the sink. The two rushed up, and into Naurto's bedroom.

Naruto and Ten-Ten laid down on Naruto's bed, and put the two empty boxes on the nightstand. "So." Naruto said. "What should we do until they get here?"

Ten-Ten looked at him coyly. "Well, we'll think of something." She said, then pulled him closer to her and proceeded to kiss him lightly.

After a couple minutes of a steadily deepening kiss, Naruto pulled back, gasping for air. "That wasn't part of the plan." He stammered out.

"It should have been." Was the response he got before he was pulled in again.

Five minutes later, a panting Ibiki ran into the house and ran up the stairs. He pushed Naruto's door open without knocking, and blanched at the sight that met him. Ten-Ten and Naruto were still making out on Naruto's bed, lips mashing together so hard that it was difficult to tell them apart. Somehow, Ten-Ten had gotten her pink top off, and Naruto was feeling the black fabric of her bra. During the groping, somehow Ten-Ten's hair had been released from its twin buns, and was swirling around the two like a chocolate curtain. Ibiki shook his head. He cleared his throat loudly while looking at the floor.

Immediately, the two sprung apart, turning tomato red. "Um… Ibiki-nii-san!" Naruto stammered out. "What a surprise. We were just…" He paused, trying to think of an explanation.

"No need, Naruto." Ibiki said, still staring at the floor. "It doesn't matter. Besides, you're perfectly able to do whatever you want behind closed doors once you're a ninja. After all, if you're old enough to kill people, you're old enough to have sex. But later. The council demands your presence." Naruto nodded, and Ten-Ten hastily put her shirt back on.

"Should Ten-chan come too?" Naruto asked. Ibiki paused, then shook his head. Naruto turned to his friend turned make-out companion. "I'll see you lat-hmph!" he said, his last word being muffled as Ten-Ten latched on to him one more time. Once she let go, Naruto said "We've gotta talk about this if I survive." With that, Naruto followed Ibiki out towards the tower.

* * *

Soon enough, Naruto was standing in the waiting room before the council chamber. "So, Ibiki-nii-san." Naruto said, as if he had no idea what was going on, "Why does the council want to speak to me?" Ibiki shrugged, and grunted. At that moment, a uniformed ninja of a minor clan came out of the door.

"Uzumaki Naruto, you have been summoned." He said in a monotone. Naruto nodded, shot a wink at Ibiki, and walked inside. Ibiki took another entrance inside, one that took him to the upper level where all of the clan heads sat. The Morino seat was calling him.

Naruto found himself in a huge chamber. Unsurpringly, there were many people sitting in chairs on a multi-layered raised area. The higher the person was, the more important there clan was. Ibiki slipped into a seat in the middle, while Hyate, Ibiki's friend, was in a seat near the bottom. Up on the top level were all of Naruto's foster fathers (and one mother, representing the Inuzuka), and one empty seat.

One of the people on the second-highest tier spoke first, his voice echoing in the loud chamber. "Uzumaki Naruto, it has come to this council's attention that you are attempting to claim the seat of the Uzumaki on this council. It is curious that you are attempting to do this, with yourself not being married or a member of the elite ANBU forces of this village. Would you care to explain how you think you can accomplish this?"

Naruto looked back at the speaker, an air of self-assurance hanging around him. "I found a law in my recently-acquired Uzumaki clan scrolls, which states that if an Uzumaki is the final one, and has a legitimate heir on the way, that he shall automatically become head of the Uzumaki clan. I was attempting to create my heir a moment ago, until Ibiki-san told me that you were summoning me."

A murmur of disgust passed through the assembled council (most of them anyway). The thought of the demon living among them was bad enough, but him attempting to procreate? That thought was horrible! "Well," another mid-ranking clan head said. "We won't have any of that anymore!"

Naruto looked at him, his face the picture of innocence. "Excuse me if I'm wrong, but the shinobi council has no ability to dictate what I do behind my doors."

Once again, the council shuddered collectively. Hiashi looked down at his adopted son, and saw that he was looking right back at the Hyuuga clan head. Then, with a movement so subtle that only the Byakugan could pick it up, Naruto winked. Hiashi suppressed a smirk. "Fellow council members," he said. "I move that we elevate Uzumaki Naruto to the head of the Uzumaki Clan, and by default, the Uzumaki seat on the council, in exchange for Naruto allowing us to pass a law, forbidding him from procreating."

The members of the council exchanged looks. That would work! The demon spawn would never create more like him, and an 'accident' could always happen when this one was celebrating his success at becoming a council member. "That is acceptable." One said.

The other major clan heads were looking at Hiashi as if he'd gone crazy. But then the Hyuuga head did something completely unexpected: he winked. The plan dawned on the friendly ones, and small smiles appeared and were quickly suppressed on their faces. "Uzumaki Naruto," Hiashi asked. "Will you accept said law?" Naruto quickly nodded. "Then, all in favor?"

Every single hand raised, evil smirks on most of their faces. "Then," Torahi stated. "Welcome to the Council." Naruto grinned, and with a teleportation jutsu he had learned from Kakashi, teleported up to the empty seat in the top row.

"For my first order of business," Naruto said. "I wish to repeal the law that was just enacted."

Over fifty mouths opened in protest, but it was immediately quashed by thirteen firm voices from the top row saying, in unison, "Approved."

Some of the minor council heads gasped in shock. They had just been outmaneuvered by a fifteen-year-old gennin, and his parents! But that shock was nothing compared to what they felt after the next statement. "As my second order of business, I wish to overrule the charges leveled on me by the Ketsunoana. They are baseless, and specifically designed to harm and slander myself." Once again, the voices of the major clan heads stated their approval.

To finish what he wanted to say off, Naruto said "Finally, I name Mitarashi Ryusha as the holder of my clan seat while I'm off doing other stuff. Like, right now for instance. Considering it's almost ten o'clock in the morning, I've got to go in for team selections. I will see you later. Oh, and when you the see the Hokage next, tell him to send the Uzumaki technique scroll to my home." With another teleportation jutsu, Naruto went down to the floor, then ran out of the chamber.

The assembled clan heads stared after him mutely. After five minutes of silence, Ibiki spoke up. "Well, that went well."

* * *

Naruto skidded to a halt in front of the academy. Then he calmly walked in, and entered Iruka's room. When he got there, he was surprised to see that all of the seats were taken. He looked over at Iruka-sensei, who shrugged. "Sorry. We got an early graduate, and we couldn't find any extra seats." Naruto nodded, and scanned the room. Surprisingly, he knew this early graduate!

"Hanabi-chan! I didn't know that you were graduating early!" he exclaimed. Hyuuga Hanabi looked up at him from his usual seat, with a small smirk on her face.

"I wanted to surprise you, Naruto-sama."

Naruto groaned. 'Not that again!' he thought.

Scanning the room again, Naruto found the next person he was looking for. "Hey, Kiba! Where's Kouken?" Naruto's dog had once again been injured. This time, he had bitten a villager who was threatening Naruto's well being, and had received a broken leg. Hana had taken him quickly, and said that he would be better by selection day.

The scion of the Inuzuka clan looked up at Naruto. "Oh, hey Naruto! Kouken's wrestling Akamaru in the back!" Naruto nodded, and looked towards the back of the room, where he saw the spinning pile of fur that was the two dogs. He grinned, and went back to looking for a seat.

"Hey, Naruto-kun, over here!" yelled a female voice. His head snapped in that direction, and saw Ten-Ten waving for him. He ran over to her. She grinned up at him. "So, did it work?" she asked.

An answering grin was her response. "Like a charm." He said, and looked around. "I don't suppose you know where an extra chair is?"

She smiled. "No, but you can take mine." She said. Before he could protest, she got up and pushed him into the seat she had been sitting in.

"Where'll you sit?" He asked, confusion strong in his voice.

"Oh, I'll find a place." She said with a knowing smirk. Before he could raise any objections, she quickly took her new seat: in Naruto's lap. "See? Much more comfortable." Naruto smiled at her, then rested his head on her chest.

"Right! Much more comfortable." He agreed, then looked up at her. "So, I take it we're actually going out right now?" She nodded, and gave him an 'of course, stupid!' look.

Iruka cleared his throat at the head of the room. "If Ten-Ten and Naruto are quite finished, we can announce team selections." Then, in a loud, clear voice, he began listing the teams. "Team One:…"

Everyone zoned out until they heard someone's name that they cared about. "Team Seven!" Iruka said. "Uchiha Sasuke, Haruno Sakura, Hyuuga Hanabi. Sensei is Hatake Kakashi."

'Oh, yeah!' Naruto thought. 'I forgot that Kakashi-tou-san was going back to being a sensei this year! He was so happy, being able to torture fresh gennin again.'

"Team Eight! Hyuuga Hinata, Inuzuka Kiba, Aburame Shino." Iruka read out. "Sensei is Yuuhi Kurenai."

'A recon based team, eh? Cool! Kurenai-chan's getting a team! She'll whoop those slackers, and Hinata, into shape right quick!' Naruto thought, then zoned out until he heard "Team Ten! Yamanaka Ino, Nara Shikamaru and Akamichi Chouji! Sensei is Sarutobi Asuma!" Naruto shrugged mentally. 'Well, never had much to do with Asuma. But I hope Ino will be ok with those two.'

After a while of listening, Iruka said "Finally, Uzumaki Naruto and Shinkotama Ten-Ten! You two are joining the pre-existing team five, with Rock Lee and Hyuuga Neji. They've been running as a two-man squad, so you two will double their numbers. Your sensei is Maito Gai."

Iruka rolled up the scroll he'd been reading from. "On a personal note, I believe this is one of the best classes I've seen in years. You guys will do the village proud." He shook his head. "Now that all the sappy stuff's been taken care of, wait here for your sensei, except Naruto and Ten-Ten. You two head to training ground seven." The two nodded, and Ten-Ten sprang out of her 'comfy seat', allowing Naruto to get up. Once both were on their feet, Kouken jumped on Naruto's shoulder, ready to go where his master went.

The two walked down the steps to the front of the room, well aware that all of the students were staring at them. Naruto stopped beside Sasuke, Sakura and Hanabi. "You guys should get cozy. Your sensei won't be here for a while." He said, then continued to walk out of the room.

* * *

As soon as they left the academy, Naruto and Ten-Ten took to the rooftops, bounding towards the designated training area. 'Hmm.' Naruto thought. 'I don't remember ever meeting a Maito. But whenever they're mentioned, Kakashi-tou-san just shudders, and cries when he thinks no one's looking.' As he finished that thought, the two of them arrived at Training Ground Seven, where they saw a scene that would scar them for the rest of their lives:

"LEE!"

"GAI-SENSEI!"

"LEE"

"GAI-SENSEI!"

A man and a teenager, with identical green skintight jumpsuits, bowl-cuts for their hair, and really thick eyebrows, were… hugging… while crying… with a painted sunset background behind them. Naruto and Ten-Ten looked at each other incredulously. "Please tell me that they don't do this often!" Naruto exclaimed.

A calm voice from off to the side said "Sorry, they do this quite frequently. I believe this is the third time today, and we've only been here about an hour." Naruto spun around, and saw his adopted cousin Neji standing there, watching scene with something akin to weary horror.

"Neji! Good to see you!" Naruto said. Naruto knew Neji quite well, due to the fact that his father was one of Naruto's bodyguards. The two got along well, with Neji being the calm influence on Naruto's limitless energy.

"Naruto-sama. It is good to see you as well."

"Neji, I've told you not to call me Naruto-sama."

"I'm sorry, Naruto-sama. Hanabi-sama ordered me to call you Naruto-sama, Naruto-sama. I really don't see the problem, Naruto-sama. Naruto-sama, do you see the problem?" At that, Naruto began turning red with anger. 'I'm gonna kill Hanabi!' he screamed in his head.

Naruto's attention was diverted from the infuriatingly calm Neji by the bowl-cut duo. They had finished their hugging session, and had now approached the new arrivals. "You!" the younger one exclaimed, looking at Ten-Ten. "You are they image of youthful beauty! Will you go out with me? I, Rock Lee, will protect you with my life!"

"Um, sorry." The startled girl said. "I'm kinda taken."

"Show me where this less-flattering specimen of youthfulness is, and I shall prove that my flames of youth burn far more then his do!" Lee exclaimed at the top of his lungs.

"Um, that would be me." Naruto said, stepping next to Ten-Ten. Neji shot him a look that said 'When did this happen?' Naruto returned one that clearly said 'Explain later!'

The deep voice of their sensei spoke up behind them. "Now Lee, insulting a person's youthfulness is very unyouthful! It dampens your own flames of youth to insult another!" Lee spun around and faced their sensei.

"You're right sensei! As punishment, I will kick the practice log 500 times!" Lee shouted.

"And if you don't finish that, I'll do 2000 jumping jacks!" Gai responded.

"And if you can't finish them, I'll run to sand village and back on one leg!"

"And if you collapse before you make it, I'll carry you back to the hospital while hopping on one arm!"

"And if you-"

"SHUT UP!" The other three gennin screamed.

After that, the five sat down in a circle. "I think we should introduce ourselves, new youthful teammates! I shall start! I am Maito Gai! I like taijutsu, and defeating Kakashi in challenges! I dislike unyouthfulness and Kakashi's hip attitude. My dream is to prove that Hard Work can defeat a genius!"

Lee stood up and began shouting. "I am next! My name is Rock Lee, Konoha's beautiful azure beast! I enjoy Taijutsu, and training with Gai-sensei! I also dislike unyouthfulness, and my dream is to prove that someone without Nin or Genjutsu can still make a splendid ninja!"

Neji sighed where he sat. "All of you know me, but my name is Hyuuga Neji. I like my father, and mastering new techniques. I dislike loud noises, and most people who cause them. My dream is to find away to unite the Hyuuga main and branch houses."

Ten-Ten was next. "I'm Shinkotama Ten-Ten. I like making new weapons, and my boyfriend Naruto-kun! I dislike girls who call themselves Kunoichi and focus on their looks and hair. My dream is to become a great kunoichi, like my idol Tsunade!"

Finally, it was Naruto's turn. "My name's Uzumaki Naruto! I like my family, ninjutsu techniques, ramen, my friends, and my girlfriend Ten-Ten! I dislike the time it takes Ramen to cook, people who hit on my girlfriend, and the fact that most people hate me! My dream is to rebuild the Uzumaki clan, and to become Hokage, so I can make my family proud!"

Gai jumped up. "We have a very youthful team! Usually, I would test you all again to prove that you can be gennin, but we simply have no time for that! We are already a team, and we have missions to be doing! To the Hokage's Office! YOSH!" he shouted. Gai ran off toward the tower, with Lee following in his wake at the same speed. Neji, Naruto and Ten-Ten simply walked along behind them at a sedate pace.

'Well, my team's going to be interesting!' Naruto thought with a smirk.

* * *

A/N: Well, that was chapter eleven! Ten-Ten is the first girl in the Harem, and Naruto is a member of Team Gai, Lee and Gai are the comic releif, and Neji is not an asshole, due to the fact that his father is still alive!

I have a question: What's the Naruto story with the most amount of reviews? I'm really curious.

Now, I have a quandry. Who will be girl number two in the Harem? I already have girl number three picked out, but that won't be for a while. Vote for it. You have two choices: Ino or Temari. Take your pick!

Remember to R&R! See you in chapter twelve!


	12. Romance, Relationships, and Rock Lee

A/N: Well, it's time for chapter twelve, and in record time! Thank you, voters! Thanks to you, chapter eleven became my highest-reviewed chapter ever, passing chapter three at 168 to 152. It was your votes that pushed me to put out this chapter, which I consider one of my best ever. Remember to R&R, even though there's no poll here.

Since I always forget this, **I don't own Naruto, and never will!

* * *

_Chapter Twelve: Romance, Relationships, and Rock Lee_**

Yamanaka Ino was pissed.

Actually, Yamanaka Ino was beyond pissed. She was livid. She was furious. She was going-to-kill-someone-who-breathes-wrong angry. And all of her rage and anger stemmed from a simple conversation she had had with Shinkotama Ten-Ten. Ino had asked a simple question of the girl. "So, how long is your and Naruto's fake relationship going to last?" It had been an honest question. After all, she had helped establish the fake relationship, and had seen the girl hanging all over Naruto from the moment he walked into the room.

Ten-Ten's answer surprised, confused, and enraged her. With a small giggle, she said "Oh, the fake relationship ended about ten minutes after it started. We're really going out now!" With that, she walked off, giggling at her good fortune.

Any other girl would have nodded and smiled along with Ten-Ten. Maybe she would have gone off to gossip with her friends about it later, but for the moment, she would have been happy for the lucky girl. Unfortunately, this was not just any girl. This was Yamanaka Ino, proclaimed (by no less then seven guys and two girls) the hottest kunoichi of the year, apprentice in her family techniques, and president of the Naruto fan club's middle branch. And now, she was pissed, and stalking around Konoha, bruising anyone who got in her way.

Soon, her angry rampage took her to a training ground. Scanning the area, Ino found the punching logs set up, as if someone had seen her coming and had figured she would need some stress release. Well, she did. Ino charged directly at the nearest log, and proceeded to attack it with everything she had. Jabs, kicks, a couple of Kunai she didn't remember drawing, and even a low-grade suiton jutsu. Afterwards, she stood there, out of energy, but not out of rage.

A voice sounded out from behind her. "You know, Ino-chan, you're cute when you're angry." Ino spun around, ready to pummel the guy who had hit on her when she was pissed. But her rage was dissipated when she saw who it was.

"Naruto-kun!" she squealed, and hugged him tightly.

"Ino-chan… can't… breathe!" Naruto gasped out, and Ino immediately released him. Gasping, Naruto muttered under his breath "Breathing is overrated." Then he looked at Ino, very closely, and gasped once again. "Ino, you do know you're bleeding, right?" She looked down at her hands, and saw that they were indeed bleeding, with several splinters stuck in them.

"Oh." She said, her surprise evident in her voice. "I really didn't notice that. I have my hands wrapped, so only really strong punches could do this…" She turned around slowly, and looked at her log. Sure enough, several holes were gouged in it, and there was a little blood on it. "Well, that explains that."

Gently, Naruto took her hands. "Well, Ino-chan, you'd better let me take care of these." He slowly unwrapped the bandages, leaving only Ino's splinter-filled hand. With a blink, Naruto activated his Byakugan. "You've got quite a few splinters here." He focused his chakra onto his hands, as if he was going to use them to climb trees. But instead, he held them over her hands, and the chakra pulled the wood out like a magnet. Then with a basic medical jutsu, Naruto healed the wounds.

"Where did you learn medical jutsu?" Ino asked in confusion.

"I just got my family scrolls, and in them are the personal scrolls of a couple of my clan. One of them was a renowned medic a couple generations back, and I studied her scroll a lot." Naruto answered. As he said that, he finished healing her hand, leaving it scar-free.

"You're really good at that!" Ino said. Naruto grinned widely, turning slightly red at the praise. As he moved to rub the back of his head, they both realized that he was still holding her hands. A second later, both of them were flaming red and about two feet apart.

"So," Ino stammered out. "W-What're you doing here anyway?"

Naruto shook his head, clearing it of all embarrassment and replied "Oh, Ten-chan sent me here. Said something about cheering you up. Have I done that?" Mutely, Ino nodded. "Well then, I gotta get back to training! I'll see you later, Ino-chan!" With that, he ran off towards another training ground.

Ino shook her own head to clear it. 'Wait a sec!' she thought. 'He ran off before I could thank him! A Yamanaka always thanks people who help them!' Hurriedly, she sprinted off in the direction Naruto had gone. It took her a couple of minutes, but she did eventually catch up with him. Naruto had stopped in the middle of Training Area 27, which was wide open field with a mid-sized river passing through the middle of it.

When Ino got there, Naruto had walked out into the middle of the running water, and had gathered more water in his hands with his chakra. As the blonde kunoichi watched, the air around Naruto shimmered as his chakra ran through it. The water balls in his hands dissolved, and the water started flowing through the air. It did streams, loops, dives, leaving a liquid trail in the air. Ino watched in awe as the water gathered in one hand, then formed an arc through the air that went to the other hand. The sun caught the arc of water, leaving rainbow trails of light throughout the field.

From next to Ino, another voice spoke up. "Beautiful, isn't it?" Ino spun around, and saw Ten-Ten staring at Naruto's training, much like Ino herself had been a moment before. "He says it improves his control and helps with his handling of suiton jutsus, but I think it just relaxes him." She said. When Ino gave her a questioning look, Ten-Ten gestured at Naruto. "Just look at him."

Ino did as she was told, but this time focused more on Naruto then on the water dancing in the air. There was nothing different about his body, but his face… On his face was the most contented look Ino had ever seen. Pure peace emanated from him as he watched the flowing liquid, and the previously unnoticed stress lines on his face relaxed and disappeared.

"He comes here almost everyday." Ten-Ten whispered, as if afraid to break the peaceful atmosphere that Naruto was exuding. "So much goes on in his life, and most of the time he just accepts it as if it were his due. Only here does he unwind. No where else, ever."

Ino looked at her questioningly. The only times she'd ever seen Naruto, he'd seemed relatively carefree, and nothing but relaxed. Ten-Ten sensed her confusion. "It's a lot of pressure being the son of thirteen clans, and the master of one. He puts himself under so much stress to master everything quickly, to make all of his family, whether it be Hiashi-san, tou-san, or anyone else, proud that he's their adopted son. Naruto puts on a confident front, just so everyone will look at him and think that he's the perfect scion of the clan. On top of that, he has to deal with the scorn and hatred of most of the non-shinobi population, and a lot of the shinobis as well. It's a miracle he doesn't crack under the strain."

The two settled back to watch Naruto's water manipulation in silence for a while, until the peace was broken once again by Ino. "How do you know all this stuff about him? You've only been dating for what, a day?"

Ten-Ten shot a pitying look over at Ino. "We've both known Naruto for a long time, and until the academy, we both knew the same amount about him. But that's when stuff started to change. Once we got to the academy, you became more concerned with your looks, your hair, your makeup, then you were with knowing your friends. Me, I worked on my skills, and kept in touch with my friend. We sparred together, trained together, did our homework together. Over that, we got to know each other. Did you know his favorite animal is the tiger?"

Ino shook here head. Ten-Ten continued. "That's why he wore that hideous orange jumpsuit a few years back. If you remember, it was orange with black stripes. He thought that if he wore the colors of the tiger, he would become more like them." Ino nodded absently. That made sense.

Abruptly, Ino made up her mind. "I want to know him. I really do. I like him a lot! You remember what our dads said to us?" Ten-Ten thought back to that afternoon, when she had told her father she was going out with Naruto.

_Flashback_

_"Ten-chan," Tenoshi said. "Remember one thing. Naruto practices polygamy. You do know what that is, correct?"_

_Ten-Ten was fuming. "So are you saying that I'm not good enough alone to take care of him!"_

_Tenoshi shook his head quickly. "That's not what I'm saying at all, Ten-Ten. I did some background research into the Uzumaki clan this morning, after I learned that Naruto practices polygamy. What I learned is that almost all Uzumaki clan members had multiple spouses. They loved each and every one of them beyond reason. They had very strong feelings for every single one of their spouses. The reason the polygamy practice was developed was because the Uzumaki, once they love someone, it is always there. Nothing will make that love go away, and if they're stopped by someone else from pursuing that love, they will always have an empty spot in their heart. Do you want to confine Naruto to that?"_

_Ten-Ten instinctively covered her own heart with her hands. "I understand, tou-san."_

_End Flashback_

"Yeah, I remember." Ten-Ten said. "And I can tell that he does like you a lot. I'm assuming you want to try and share him?" Ino nodded quickly. "But there are two conditions. First, you must spend more time training then you do now!" She raised a hand to cut off Ino's objections. "The fact is, if Naruto lost someone he loved, it would kill him. If you being able to protect yourself will save him that, I'm willing to force you to do it."

Ino thought about it, then nodded. "I agree. You won't have to force me to do anything. But what's the second condition?"

"We need to get to know each other. I refuse to share the same man with someone who is almost a complete stranger." Ino hesitated briefly, then nodded.

* * *

Over the next few weeks, Ten-Ten and Ino trained together. They quickly discovered that the two had different standards of 'hard training'. What was a light workout for Ten-Ten was a tough thing for Ino. So they started off light, just doing Ten-Ten's light workouts. As they progressed, they got to know each other better.

"Well, my dad is the head of the Yamanaka as you know, but my kaa-san's a civilian." Ino said, one day while they were taking a break from kunai practice. "She never wanted me to be a shinobi. Kaa-san had a dream about me marrying a prince, and never having to lift my finger for anything. But I was always my tou-san's girl, and now instead of marrying a prince, I'll eventually be assassinating them."

That simple statement shocked Ten-Ten. Not that she didn't already know that. But she hadn't thought that Ino knew that. Somehow, Ten-Ten had been sure that Ino was one of those with a romantic ideal of ninja, rescuing princesses and stopping evil. But she knew the facts of the job, and was willing to see them through.

Continuing her story, Ino said "She wasn't too happy that I got into the academy. But Tou-san told me I could if I wanted to, and I did. At first, she went along with it, thinking I'd quit. But sometime she realized I wasn't going to, and sat me down and had a long talk about how being a ninja is a man's job, and is no place for a proper woman." Ten-Ten gasped at that.

"Yeah, that's what I thought to. But I guess tou-san was listening to that, because for the next week we had a steady stream of guests, all kunoichi, that just happened to have some important business with tou-san. Eventually, Kaa-san gave up, and decided that I was just going to be a ninja."

Eventually, Ten-Ten shared her story as well. "I always knew I was going to be a ninja. I never wanted to be anything else. Tou-san's fond of telling a story about me throwing a wooden kunai at the age of two, and having it connect dead-center with someone's skull. He never told me who I hit though…" She said thoughtfully, wondering why her tou-san rubbed the back of his head every time he told that story.

"But I didn't want to be a kunoichi. I wanted to be the best kunoichi. So I read all these books about famous female ninja as soon as I learned how to read. Eventually, I found one on the legendary sannin, Tsunade! She's so strong, and powerful, and takes no crap from anyone! So I decided: I would do my best to be just like her."

Occasionally, Naruto joined their training sessions. It was in those sessions that Ten-Ten and Ino improved the most. Having the object of their desire around (even if they had already decided what they were going to do with him) sparked competition, and a need to prove themselves to him. Naruto himself was oblivious to that. But he did point out flaws in their fighting styles, and helped them when needed.

"Ten-chan, you need to work on close range fighting. You're a master of long-range attacks, but if someone can deflect your weapons, you're done for. Also, you need to expand your jutsu repertoire. Ino-chan, you're the direct opposite of Ten-Ten. You're decent in close combat, but need to work on your aim with thrown weapons. You need to work on your jutsus as well." But Naruto didn't just point out the flaws, he helped them with them. "Because you both need new jutsus, I'm going to be teaching you my original technique. No one else knows it, except Kakashi-tou-san, and you'll need a trump card." After that, Naruto walked them through the basics of the **_Kazanashi _**(Volcano Foot). Ten-Ten picked it up easily enough, but Ino still needed work with it.

It was during these training sessions that the girls learned that Naruto was using them as test dummies for new moves, or seals that he had created. He scared the crud out of Ten-Ten when they were sparing close range. She had just charged in to engage him when Naruto flicked his wrist. Ten-Ten skidded to a stop with a squeak when Naruto's metal spear flew out of his sleeve and into his hand. "H-How did you do that?" Ten-Ten stammered out.

"Oh, this?" Naruto said. "I stitched a special type of seal on the inside of my sleeve, and put my spear in it. Now all I have to do is channel a tiny amount of chakra into it, and it shoots the spear down where I can catch it. It gives me the element of surprise, plus it looks damn cool"

Ten-Ten looked at him enviously, while Ino just gaped that he had invented something so different. "I've got to get me one of those." Ten-Ten murmured. Naruto winked at her.

"Now I know what I'm getting you for your birthday!"

* * *

Early one morning, Ten-Ten stopped by Ino's house. "Sorry Ino!" Ten-Ten said. "We can't train today. We've got a C-class mission out in grass country, stopping cattle raiders." Ino nodded at that. She was actually surprised this hadn't happened sooner. "Wanna come and see us off?" Ino nodded and followed Ten-Ten to the gates.

Neji and Naruto were standing there, shaking their heads in unison as Lee and Gai were hugging each other once again. "What'd they do this time?" Ten-Ten asked.

"LEE!"

"GAI-SENSEI!"

The Hyuuga prodigy looked at the girl. "I really don't know. They've been doing this since before we got here!"

"How long have you been here?" Ino inquired.

"About twenty minutes."

As Ten-Ten shook her head in weary acknowledgement, Ino blanched at the fact that a sixteen-year-old teen, and a grown man, had been hugging each other for over twenty minutes (with streaming tears and a sunset background, of course). Looking around, Ino saw that Naruto was still watching the scene with a mixture of amusement, disgust, and a trace of nausea on his face. She ran over to him, blocking his sight of the horrific event. "Well, Naruto-kun, I came to see you off! Have a good mission!" She grabbed him in a tight hug, and before he could react, planted a firm kiss on his lips. Then she waved good-bye to Ten-Ten and ran back to her house to prepare for the day.

Naruto stared after her, in a small daze. But he quickly snapped out of it, and shot a look over at Ten-Ten, who, he reminded himself, was his girlfriend. But instead of the livid, threatening Ten-Ten he expected, he saw a peaceful Ten-Ten, who was nodding and smiling. In his confused daze, loud voices penetrated his mind.

"AND IF I DON'T FINISH THE JUMPING JACKS, I SHALL DO TWO HUNDRED PUSHUPS!" Lee shouted. It seemed that they had finished the hugging, and had moved on to the traditional double promises.

"AND IF YOU DON'T FINISH THEM, I SHALL RUN AROUND FIRE COUNTRY WITH ONE LEG TIED BEHIND MY BACK!" Gai responded.

"AND IF YOU STOP BEFORE YOU'RE DONE, I SHALL CARVE YOUR FACE ON THE HOKAGE MONUMENT!"

"AND IF YOU'RE ARRESTED BY ANBU BEFORE YOU CAN FINISH, I SHALL BREAK YOU OUT OF JAIL WITH A DOZEN BOULDERS ON MY BACK!"

"AND IF-"

"SHUT UP!" The other three shouted in unison.

Gai cleared his throat. "I apologize, my youthful pupils! Today, we have a mission to stop unyouthfulness from flowering outside of Konoha! Some people have been stealing the youthful livestock of the hard-working youthful farmers of Grass Country! They are closer to our village then they are to Kusagakure, so we have been called up to help save them from unyouthfulness!"

Naruto translated for the benefit of Ten-Ten and Neji. "Some asses are stealing cows from farmers in grass. We gotta catch the bastards, cause we're getting paid to." Neji and Ten-Ten nodded at his summary.

"AWAY, MY YOUTHFUL STUDENTS!" Gai yelled, and ran out of the gates, Lee following. As usual, the other three walked along sedately, knowing that sooner or later, Gai would realize that he had just left the three of them behind. It actually gave Naruto and Ten-Ten time to talk.

"So, what exactly just happened with Ino?" Naruto asked.

"You're dating her now." Ten-Ten said matter-of-factly.

"What about you?" he asked, more confused then he was before.

"You're dating me too."

"Is that ok?"

"Yes."

After a moment's pause, Naruto asked one more question: "When were you guys going to tell me about this?"

Ten-Ten stopped him, and looked deep into his eyes. "Is that a problem?"

"No, but I thought you would be getting mad about this."

"I'm not." She said, and planted a very deep kiss on him. Instinctively, his arms encircled her, making her feel safe, as they did every time that happened. She pulled back from the kiss briefly. "So stop making a big deal of it."

"Yes ma'am!" Naruto said, and was cut off by another kiss. Behind him, Neji began making gagging sounds, and pretended to vomit. Then he straightened out.

"You two should stop soon, before the 'green beasts' realize that they forgot us. If they catch you two doing that, we'll all have to listen to another talk about 'youthful behavior and the power of it's springtime' again." He said. Quickly, realizing he was exactly right, the two broke apart and resumed their walk down the road.

* * *

It took a couple of days of travel to reach their location. As it was, they arrived in the morning, leaving them a good sixteen hours until midnight, when the cattle thieves were due to attack. That meant it was time for one thing: training.

"Listen, my youthful students!" Gai yelled out. "We have seven hours for training, leaving eight for sleep and another hour to become prepared. The earliest these youthful locals ever said that they were attacked was midnight. So here is our schedule!" The four gennin looked at him expectantly. In the weeks they'd been with Gai, they'd learned that though he was a little crazy, his training was good, and they grew strong under his tutelage.

"Naruto, add twenty pounds to your weight seals!" Gai shouted, and Naruto kneeled down to do just that. At first, Gai had tried to give him a pair of those hideous orange ankle bracers that he and Lee wore. While orange might be his favorite color, after the jumpsuit incident, he had decided that orange looked good, just not on him. Once he had explained he was a seal master, Gai had taught him weight seals, which acted just like the ankle bracers, only less hideous and easier to add weight to and remove.

"Lee, add twenty more pounds to your weights! Neji, add fifteen pounds to your wrist-weight-seals. Ten-Ten, you do the same as Neji!" Once Naruto had learned the weight seals, he had taught the extremely easy method to Neji and Ten-Ten to use on their arms, to speed up the rate of their attack. They took to it like a fish to water, especially since it meant that they were also spared the orange bracers.

"Naruto, you spar with Lee! Ten-Ten, practice your aim with… let's see, sickles! Neji, turn around, activate your byakugan, and find out how many targets Ten-Ten hits!" Gai had quickly learned that Lee and Naruto were the kind that learned from combat, while Neji needed for figure out his own weaknesses and Ten-Ten needed to improver her strengths.

As Naruto and Lee squared off, Lee shouted, "I shall defeat you this time, my eternal rival!" Naruto sighed. Within two days of him joining the squad, Lee had declared him 'his eternal rival', and now challenged Naruto to everything from sparring to rock-paper-scissors, to even how many kisses they could get from girls in an hour (Naruto won that one hands down).

Soon enough, it was time to get to sleep for the rest of the afternoon. "Youthful students! Lee, Neji, Naruto, and Myself shall sleep in this tent! Ten-Ten, you have the other one to yourself!" Ten-Ten and Naruto exchanged looks, and Naruto gave a small wink, then turned to Gai. Ten-Ten turned to the green-clad man herself, preparing to watch the show.

"It is unyouthful to leave a comrade alone in a strange place, Gai-sensei!" Naruto shouted. "It would dampen the flames of Ten-Ten's youth if she was left alone!"

Gai looked at him consideringly. "You are most correct, Naruto-kun! As sleeping in the same tent as Ten-Ten would shame our youth, myself and Lee shall remain in our tent! You and Neji decide who shall join Ten-Ten to help her preserve her youth!" Naruto and Neji exchange glances, and Neji made an 'after you' gesture.

As they crawled into their sleeping bags, Naruto stifled a chuckle as he heard another cry of "GAI-SENSEI!" coming from the other tent. He heard Ten-Ten give out a giggle of her own, and grinned as he laid down. "G'Night, Ten-chan!" he said.

She crawled over to him, and to his great surprise, crawled into the bag with him. "Good Night, Naruto-kun!" she responded.

"Um… Ten-chan? Why are you in my sleeping roll?"

"Do you have a problem with me joining you in your sleeping roll?"

"No…"

"I'm just sleeping, nothing else. And if you have no problems with it, shut up and hold me!"

That night, they woke up and silently prepared themselves. They each drew straws for which disguise they'd be wearing. Gai got the shortest straw, meaning he'd be a cow. Lee hid in a bush, Neji and Ten-Ten got up in a high tree together, and Naruto played the part of the cow guard that had fallen asleep. Which actually wasn't that hard, considering he hadn't gotten much sleep. He had discovered that Ten-Ten stretched a lot while she was sleeping, and was extremely grabby.

A kunai being held to his throat brought him back to full awareness. "Never sleep on the job." A somewhat menacing voice said. "Do you have any last words?"

"Yeah." Naruto said. "Moo."

With that, all hell broke loose. Gai attacked a couple of bandits that were around the enclosure, but had forgotten to shed his disguise. So Neji, the only one who could see clearly in the dark, was treated to the sight of a cow, udders and all, fighting off bandits while mooing about flames of youth.

Ten-Ten, using Neji's eyesight to guide her, took out the one threatening Naruto with a well-placed senbon to the throat. This freed Naruto up to demolish most of the enemy around him.

One bandit was terrified. His comrades were being attacked by a cow and a no-longer-asleep cow guard! Needles were flying from the sky, impaling all of his friends! He was so scared, he never noticed a bush sneaking up behind him.

"Oh, fear me! I am a master of disguise, even without chakra! I am so good, he shall never notice me as I sneak up behind him!" Lee said to himself. Then he realized why it wasn't a good idea to talk to oneself while sneaking. The bandit spun, saw the bush sneaking up behind him, screamed, and ran off. Lee stared after him, then pulled out his notebook. "Do… not… talk… while… sneaking." He wrote down.

Soon, all of the bandits had been subdued. None of them were dead, but most were unconscious and the few that weren't were scared shitless. Literally, as two had lost control of their bladders. Gai tied them up with one of his spare spandex suits. "How many of those do you have?" Naruto asked incredulously.

"One can never have enough fashion!" Gai shouted. On that note, leaving the fourteen bandits tied up in bad clothing, hanging from a tree branch, Team Gai headed home, proud that they had finished their first C-rank mission.

* * *

A/N: That was chapter twelve! R&R! Next Time: Wave Country and Zabuza! 


	13. Reactions, Rainbows, and More Rock Lee

A/N: Well, time for chapter thirteen. In this chapter, it's alot of humor, and we get into Wave country (barely). Enjoy!

* * *

Shikamaru looked at Ino carefully. There was something different about his bossy female teammate recently. She seamed… happy. And content. And much less troublesome. The genius gennin couldn't think of what it was, but it made her seem… attractive. Much more attractive then she used to be, though she always had been hot. It was this (and the fact that he hadn't been hit in a couple days) that gave Shikamaru the resolve to go up to her and ask:

"Ino, will you go out with me?"

Ino jumped in surprise, and gaped at Shikamaru. "Sorry, Shika." She said after she recovered. "I'm already going out with someone."

Shikamaru shrugged. It was no skin of his back. It's not like he had some deep unrequited love for Ino. He just thought she was attractive, and maybe he could develop something for her. But, since that wasn't the case, it was way too troublesome to get worked up. He nodded. "Ok. Good luck with that." Shikamaru said, and went back to staring at the clouds.

Ino skipped away, still in la-la land from kissing Naruto a couple days ago. He should be coming back any day now, and then they could work out whatever they were. But she had no worries about what his answer would be. He liked her. That much was obvious. She liked him. That was even more obvious. The only reason that they wouldn't be together would be because of Ten-Ten, and she had guaranteed that she wouldn't interfere, as long as Ino gave her the same courtesy. So Ino was in a very, very good mood.

Her good mood was obvious to everyone she spent time with. But none noticed it more then her best friend, Sakura. Ino met up with her soon as she was walking home, and the two decided to go on a walk through Konoha. "So, who is it?" Sakura asked innocently.

Ino sputtered, and turned on her friend. "What're you talking about?"

"Who's the guy? There's nothing else that could get you in such so good a mood. You haven't freaked out on anyone recently, and Chouji says you haven't mentioned his weight in two days!" Sakura stated matter-of-factly. Then she leaned forward, intent on Ino. "Come on! Tell me! This is juicy, and you've been holding out on me!"

Ino took a step back, a look of shock painted on her face. 'Was I really that obvious?' she thought. 'I'm going to have some fun with this!' "Sorry Sakura! I have no idea what you're talking about!"

Sakura's rage was visible. Her eyes bugged out, and she turned bright red. "Come on, Ino! You know exactly what I'm talking about! And now you're going to tell me or… or…"

"Or what?"

"Or I'm going to go tell your mom!"

Ino paled. Her mom would freak if it got out that Ino was dating someone! "You wouldn't!"

A smug smirk was on Sakura's face now. "I would, and you know it. Now tell!"

"Okay, okay! Just promise not to tell anyone!" Ino gasped out. Sakura nodded impatiently. "Ok, I kissed this one guy! I really like him, and everything, and once he gets back in town, I think we're going to go out!"

"Names, Ino! I need names!"

But before Ino could stammer out anything else, a voice from behind them sounded out. "Ino-chan! I missed you!" Ino's face lit up, and she spun around to see Naruto jogging up the road towards them. Within three seconds, Ino was being crushed against the purple-eyed boy, not that she minded. Her lips were quickly locked with his, to the mutual enjoyment of both.

Sakura stood, gaping at the couple happily making out in plain sight. "B-but- He's with Ten-Ten!"

Ino broke the kiss long enough to say "I know!", then grabbed his lips again.

The pink-haired girl was still stunned. "You do know that she's going to kill you both, right?" Somehow, even though they were still connected firmly at the mouth, both Ino and Naruto managed to shake their heads in the negative. Sakura puzzled over the meaning of that until a female voice from behind her spoke up.

"Wow. He really latched onto her quick. I thought it would take at least another ten minutes." Sakura spun around and saw Ten-Ten standing there, watching Ino and Naruto lock lips as if it were an everyday occurrence.

Sakura's female pride flared up. "You mean you're letting him play you both? Where's your pride? Why're you letting this pig abuse both of you like that!" she screeched out.

There was a sound like a suction cup being removed from a wall, and Ino and Naruto finally finished their impromptu make out session. The two turned just in time to see Ten-Ten shook Sakura a pitying glance. "Because, he's not abusing us. He cares about us both equally, and we both care about him. If you remove one of us, it's kind of like…" Ten-Ten tried to think of terms that Sakura would understand. "It's like Sasuke saying that you're pathetic and he wants nothing to do with you for the rest of his life."

Sakura's mouth formed an O and she visible deflated, as if the very idea shocked her. Clearly, she didn't realize that that was exactly what Sasuke had been telling her since the first time she professed her undying love to him. "Oh." She said in a shocked voice. "I see how that would hurt someone." She turned to Ino and Naruto. "I'll leave you guys to catch up then. Oh, and Ino, someone that just saw your 'boyfriend' is bound to tell your mom." With that, she walked away.

Ino paled again when she heard that. She was about to go off into an extremely long and complicated series of curses when a touch on the shoulder from Naruto stopped her. "Ino-chan, your mom was bound to find out eventually. Besides, Inoichi-tou-san will take care of her." Ino nodded, accepting that as fact.

Naruto took a minute to survey his two girlfriends. That fact that he had two still shocked him to the core. But now that he looked at them side-by-side, he realized how different they were to look at. Ino was taller, blonde, and looked like everyone's typical version of a blonde knockout. Ten-Ten was on the shorter side, and had a more… earthly beauty. Both were beautiful to be sure, but in very different ways. As Naruto opened his mouth, yet another voice sounded out.

"Hey, nii-san!" a young boy squealed. Naruto spun around, a large grin on his face as he met his one and only adopted younger brother. Sure, he had loads of adopted brothers, but most were the same age or older then he was. He had a couple adopted younger sisters, but he had been encouraged by their mothers (and Itachi) not to think of them as sisters, for some reason. But this was the one and only younger brother Naruto had: Konohamaru.

"Hey, Kono!" Naruto exclaimed, picking up the boy and spinning him around in the air. "What're you doing here?" Realizing that they boy couldn't answer while being swung around in the air, he hastily put him down.

The boy staggered around dizzily for a minute, then shook his head to restore balance. "I wanted to see you, nii-san! I heard you were coming back from your mission, and I wanted to know about it! Were there bad guys? Were there other ninja? Did you beat them all up? Did ya? Did ya? Did ya?"

Naruto massaged his temples to stave off a headache. It was always like this when Konohamaru got curious. "Yes, No, Yes, Yes, Yes, and Yes. Is that it, Kono?"

"Yeah, that's all!" Konohamaru yelled. "Oh, yeah! Hanabi-chan wanted me to tell you something." Hanabi was Konohamaru's friend, and occasional babysitter. Naruto began to feel a sinking sensation in his stomach. "I think it was… oh yeah, Hello, Naruto-sama!" With his message delivered, the boy skipped off without a care in the world.

Behind him, a vein was pulsing in Naruto's temple. 'Will she ever stop that!' Naruto thought incredulously. But a hand on each arm brought him back down to normal. He looked to his left arm, where Ino had put a reassuring hand, to his right arm, where Ten-Ten had put one of her own. "So, ladies," he said. "Wanna go to my house?" At the look on their faces (confusion on Ten-Ten, and excitement on Ino), he hastily added "Just to talk without people staring at us!"

As the three entered Naruto's home, Ibiki was banging his head against the kitchen table. Distracted by the loud thumping noises, Naruto went to see what was wrong. "Tough prisoners again, Ibiki-nii-san?"

Ibiki looked up at him. "Yeah. We caught two cloud ninja attempting to break into the Hokage tower, but neither of them are talking! I've tried everything! Physical torture, mental torture, emotional torture, hell, I've even had them sit through one of Iruka's lectures on etiquette of shinobi! But nothing works!"

Naruto thought for a minute. This wasn't the first time Ibiki had had tough prisoners, and all the other times he had needed Naruto's help. He thought hard for a moment. Then, Ten-Ten, who had followed him into the kitchen, whispered something into his ear. Naruto brightened up, and said "Ibiki-nii-san, have I got a torture for you!"

* * *

In the basement of Hokage tower, the interrogation room stood. It currently had two imprisoned cloud ninja, six chunin guards, and Morino Ibiki, head of interrogation. "This is your last chance to talk." The scarred Jounin stated. "If you don't, we'll be forced to call in the heavy artillery."

The battered, scarred, and defiant cloud nin looked at each other. "Never!" one said. The other nodded his agreement, before spitting in Ibiki's general direction.

"Very well." Ibiki said. "I had hoped that we wouldn't have to do this." He walked over to the door, and pulled it open. Two figures ran into the room. Upon seeing them, all of the leaf ninja cringed, and some even looked at the cloud ninja with pity in their eyes. The two new arrivals stood in front of the prisoners.

"YOSH!" Gai shouted. "We have been told that you have lost your youthful way! We, the blue and azure beasts of Konoha, shall right your paths, and reignite the fires that burn within you! If we don't, then I shall do three hundred backflips!"

Lee joined in. "And if Gai-sensei fails that, I shall go without sleep for a week!"

"And if Lee falls asleep before the week is up, I carry our unyouthful guests around for a scenic tour of Fire Country!"

"And if Gai-sensei is caught by man-eating tigers, I shall save him by throwing rocks at them!"

"And if Lee should miss, I shall defeat the tigers myself by beating them with my severed arm!"

"And If Gai-sensei's arm should still be attached, I shall sever it for him!"

"Lee! Your suggestions are most youthful!"

"GAI-SENSEI!"

"LEE!"

"GAI-SENSEI!"

"LEE!"

"GAI-SENSEI!"

The interrogators watched as the beasts of Konoha hugged each other with a giant sunset in the background. The two prisoners watched, shaking in terror. Ibiki looked at them pitilessly. "You two will be living with them until you decided to talk." Ibiki turned back to the hugging, which was still going on. 'Dear Kami, what have I unleashed?' he asked himself.

* * *

At Naruto's house, Naruto, Ino, and Ten-Ten were sitting in the living room. Ten-Ten had just finished narrating their mission, and Ino was gasping for air in between frequent laughs. "He was fighting while transformed into a cow!" she gasped out, before breaking out into laughs again.

Remembering the fight, Ten-Ten realized something. "Naruto-kun, why were you falling asleep at your post? I just remembered that they managed to sneak up on you, and the only time I could ever do that was when you were half-asleep."

Naruto turned a bright red. "Um, I didn't get much sleep during the day." At Ten-Ten's questioning look, he managed to say "You're really grabby when you sleep." But instead of turning another shade of red, like Naruto expected, an impish grin settled on her face.

"Oh, that kept you awake?" she said. "I was still awake when I did that. I just wanted to see your reaction." Naruto managed to turn an even brighter red at that.

Ino looked over at her fellow girl. "How was it?" she said in a stage whisper. Ten-Ten measured with her hands, and Ino let out a low whistle. "Very nice." She said. Naruto turned bright red, and Ino and Ten-Ten proceeded to flirt with him mercilessly.

* * *

Over the Yamanaka flower shop, the elder Yamanaka woman was furious. Her daughter, her perfect daughter, who could have any boy in the village that she wanted, had settled for that demon spawn that her husband had adopted years ago! Ino would get a stern talking to when she got home. Her husband would side with her on this, she knew it!

At that exact moment, Inoichi walked in. "You called?" he asked.

"Yes!" his wife yelled. "Ino has a new boyfriend! It's that demon that you've adopted! I want you to talk some sense into her, and make her break up with him now! She's much too good for him!"

Inoichi looked at his wife as if she was crazy. "This is a bad thing? I've been hoping this would happen since he started being interested in girls! I'm not doing anything. And I'd appreciate it if you didn't insult Naruto infront of me. He's a great kid, something you'd have learned if you spent any time at all with him in the last fifteen years!" He turned on his heel and stormed off, leaving his wife gaping like a fish behind him.

* * *

The next morning, Naruto was awoken by Ibiki. "Whaz goin on?" he slurred.

Ibiki looked at him with amusement. "You and your girlfriends falling asleep on the couch, that's what happened. Oh, and I've got a picture of this for the next time you piss me off." That's when Naruto became aware of his surroundings. He was on the couch, with his head resting on Ino's chest. As a matter of fact, his head was being clutched to Ino's chest with a deathgrip by the girl herself. And on his other side was Ten-Ten, who had once again decided to get grabby in her sleep.

"You wouldn't." Naruto said. "Because that picture would not only give me so much credit with the guys at school, it would probably raise the civilians into a lynch mob again. Besides, you owe me for telling you how to crack your prisoners yesterday."

Ibiki made a face. "Good points. But how did you know I had cracked my prisoners."

"After sharing a tent with those two, Neji was reduced to stammering and shivering for a good three hours. And he was asleep most of the time. If Neji ends up like that after such a short time, I'd hate to see what was left of anyone who spent a longer time with them." He replied, nodding sagely.

"Well, wake up the girls. You've got mission assignments in about twenty minutes."

Naruto nodded, and twenty minutes later, the three met all of the other gennin in front of the Hokage tower. Once all of them were assembled, all of them entered the mission assignment room. Iruka was assigning the missions today. "Ok, guys." The kindly academy teacher said. "We've got one C-rank mission today. Who wants it?" Every single one of the gennin raised their hands.

"Ok, I'll go into specifics. It's an escort mission, for a bridge builder, to Wave Country." Everyone's hands remained up. "Hmmm. Now who should get it?" he mused. "Well, Gai's team is the biggest, and has done a C-rank before. This is a first time customer, so we do need to make a good impression." Iruka looked over the gennin. "I'm assigning Team Gai to this C-rank." A chorus of groans from the nine gennin not on Team Gai met that announcement.

"Team Kakashi, you're chasing the cat again. Team Kurenai, Toyka-san's garden needs to be weeded. Team Asuma, a couple of construction workers left their lunch at home, and they need it delivered to their work." The nine gennin and three Jounin nodded. Team Asuma left first, with Ino giving Ten-Ten a hug, and managing to lock lips with Naruto again.

Team Kakashi left next. Kakashi ruffled Naruto's hair, while Sasuke exchanged nods with him. Sakura shot both Naruto and Ten-Ten a strange look, while Hanabi mouthed 'Naruto-sama' again. Team Kurenai was the last to go, with Kiba and Shino ignoring Team Gai, and Hinata giving both her cousin and adopted brother a hug.

Kurenai herself was the last to go. "So, Naruto-kun, I understand you've gotten yourself two girlfriends." Naruto nodded at his older friend. "Well, are you going to stop there?" she said teasingly, and left before Naruto could form a response.

'Was she just flirting with me?' Naruto wondered. 'Nah. Must be my imagination.' Iruka cleared his throat. "Now that everyone else is gone, I'll introduce you to your client."

A half-drunk old man in a straw hat came out from the side room. "My name's Tazuna, the super bride-builder! Are you runts really going to protect me?"

From behind him, Gai said "Not only them client! I am Maito Gai, the SUPER blue beast of Konoha, and I shall protect you as well!"

Lee squealed in joy. "I am Rock Lee, the SUPER azure beast of Konoha, and I shall protect you as much if not more then Gai-sensei does!"

Neji walked over to Tazuna, and said "Listen, old man. Either you respect the team, or we'll let those" he jerked a thumb over at Lee and Gai "Two be your closest bodyguards." Tazuna looked at the two, who had just begun hugging again.

"LEE!"

"GAI-SENSEI!"

Tazuna paled slightly, then said "I respect you all very much, just please don't let those two be my close bodyguards!"

Gai spoke up next. "My youthful students, prepare for a three week mission! Gather your supplies, and meet me at the village gates in thirty minutes!"

* * *

Thirty minutes later, the team was walking out of the village. Naruto and Ten-Ten were engaged in a deep conversation, primarily revolving around how much force it took to throw a kunai straight through an enemies arm. Lee and Gai were alternately flashing their sparkling teeth while putting their thumbs up and promising to do outlandish things if their client was hurt. Neji felt himself getting a headache as he watched all of their antics with his byakugan.

Naruto realized that he should be doing something, and powered up his own byakugan to keep watch on everyone. But something strange happened when he activated it. Instead of his 360 degree vision, everyone he saw started glowing orange. In confusion, Naruto swiveled his head around, looking at everything. Ten-Ten was a bright orange, Neji was slightly darker, the bridge builder was much darker, and Gai and Lee were a bright orange, as was the air around them.

"Um, Naruto-kun?" Ten-Ten asked. "Why are your eyes orange?" Naruto's eyes had turned from the vibrant purple that they usually were to a vivid orange.

"I really don't know!" he said as he continued to look around. But his eyes settled on a nearby puddle. It was exuding the orange color. Without stopping to think, Naruto drew a kunai and launched it into the puddle.

The results were instantaneous. Two ninja jumped from the liquid, one with a kunai embedded in his shoulder. Without wasting the element of surprise, they charged at Tazuna. But they got no where near him. Forewarned by Naruto's reaction, Ten-Ten had already drawn her weapons, and both of the attacking ninja found themselves with their legs tangled in chain.

While they were immobilized, Neji charged. Before they could blink, both of the renegades found themselves without the ability to use chakra. Finally, they were both knocked unconscious as Lee kicked both of their heads. With the enemies down, Naruto began thinking, wondering what could have caused this change in his bloodlines. He checked his eyes for chakra, then noticed the difference. He had been slightly distracted while talking to Ten-Ten, and had sent the chakra to his eyes in a different pattern then usual for his Byakugan. And it had unlocked his last bloodline.

"I've got it!" Naruto screamed.

The four other members of his team (and Tazuna) stared at him in confusion. "Um, Naruto?" Neji asked. "What exactly have you got?"

Naruto looked at him, a huge grin engulfing his features. "My last bloodline! I've opened it! Or, at least part of it." He showed them all his bright orange irises. "I've opened my last bloodline, the Nijigan!"

"The Nejigan?" Gai exclaimed in confusion. "Neji! My youthful student! I had no idea that you had an entire bloodline named after you! You should have informed me months ago! YOSH!"

Naruto shook his head in exasperation. "The Nijigan, not the Nejigan!" he exclaimed. "The rainbow eye, the bloodline power of the Uzumaki! There are seven forms of it, and I've just unlocked the first!"

The lone girl on the team looked at her boyfriend's solid orange eyes. "Well, they're not that bad looking, honestly. But I prefer the purple shade better. Besides, what does the orange eye do?"

"I can see heat!"

Ten-Ten nodded slowly, realizing that that explained how Naruto had known to react to the 'puddles' that the enemy had been hiding in. "Can you change em back now?" she asked. Naruto nodded, and withdrew the chakra from his eyes. They were quickly sent back to their normal, purple, state.

"Our team is stronger then ever!" Gai shouted. "Now, we must question the ninja that you have just knocked out, and find out who their target was!"

Naruto looked at his crazy sensei. "Um, they just attacked Tazuna. Wouldn't it make sense to think that they were after him?"

"YOSH! Your youthful brain has deduced the correct answer, Naruto-kun!"

From the nearby treetops, a masked figure disappeared, then reappeared in front of a bandaged ninja. "The demon brothers failed, Zabuza-sama. What're your orders?"

The bandaged nin chuckled. "Pick out a good ambush site. I feel like getting my hands dirty."

* * *

A/N: well, we got into Wave country here. The rest of it should be next chapter. I thank everyone who reviewed last chapter, and everyone who is going to review again this chapter. Now, because I feal like it, I'm going to recommend some fics.

As it says on my profile, _Shadow Fox_ by Don't Really Care is pretty good. It's a rare pairing, and has a premise I've never read about before.

Another good find is _A Different Sort of Naruto, _by Daniel Goldberg. It's just getting into a Harem, which is really hard to pull off (I speak from experience). But it's doing a pretty good job so far.

One of my favorites is _Sins of the Past, _by LiquidDreamLAD. It's an awesome AU, with a beleiveable Bleach-based OC.

Finally, if you like Harem fics, I'llrecomend some to you. _Son of the Serpent _by Liquid Ash is a Naru/Tayuya/Kin/Temari (I think), and _From Ramen with Love _by Ryushi-the-DutchEroSennin is really good and features alot of girls. For more, because I can't really remember any others at the moment, check out my C2.

See ya in Chapter 14: Wave Country


	14. Wave Country

A/N: Well, it's time for Chapter Fourteen, which is by far my longest chapter at over 7000 words! That makes sense, as it contains almost the entire wave country arc (the only part it doesn't have is the Demon Brothers incident last chapter). Last chapter hadmy second lowest amount of reviewsever, at a pitiful... 75. Ok, it wasn't that small, but I hope to get at least 77 this time, to maintain my 100 per chapter average. I've been planning out the bridge scene since I started this fic, and it's definity one of the best scenes in this fic.

I think I should officially label it. This fic is definitly going to beepic, for the simple reason that I can't picture ending it with less then 50 chapters. YAY 50 chapters!

Asone of the lastparts of my A/N, AF0 has a new forum up. There's a link in my profile.

Finally, I'm considering changing my Pen Name, to Vesvius Kazanashi, as an ode to Naruto's custom jutsu. Tell me if you think it's a good idea.

On with the chapter!

"Talking!"  
'Thinking'  
**Demon Naruto Talking  
**_**Jutsu  
**Flashback_

* * *

Chapter Fourteen: Wave Country

Team Gai was walking steadily towards Wave Country. They had been attacked by rouge ninja, been told of an economic plight, and had, as one, pleaded with their sensei to allow them to continue on with this mission. Gai had eventually caved in to their ceaseless demands, with one warning. "Remember. This is now an A-Class mission. We were told that this was a C-Class mission. We might not be able to stand up to any other forces that come after us."

Naruto had looked at his teammates, and said "Gai-sensei, let us worry about that. We're ninja now." The others had nodded in unison, and they had continued on their way, a very enthusiastic Tazuna in their midst.

As they walked, the area around them suddenly filled with mist. Immediately, the five ninja and one bridge builder came to a halt. Gai looked around, the normally goofy look gone from his face. "Someone's here." He said.

Naruto's keen ears picked it up first: the sound of a something flying through the air at them! "DUCK AND COVER!" he shouted, then took his own advice, dropping to the ground while pulling Ten-Ten and Tazuna down with him. A huge cleaver flew over their heads, arcing like a boomerang. It flew back to it's starting point, and was caught by a bandage-wrapped hand.

"So, you brats aren't that bad." A deep menacing voice spoke out. "Good. I hope to have some fun with this." The ninja jumped down in front of them, showing them exactly who they were dealing with. He was tall, about a head taller then Gai. He was wearing camouflage pants, and no shirt. But he did have bandage wrapped hands, and his lower face was also wrapped in them. His forehead protector (bearing the four squiggly lines of mist with a slash through them) was at a strange angle, though still on his head.

"Come now." The new arrival said. "All I want is your little old man back there. Hand him over, and the rest of you can run along home."

Gai stared at the missing nin in front of me. "Zabuza, Demon of the Bloody mist." He said in a low voice. "You, I did not expect."

"Life's full of surprises, isn't it?" Zabuza said mockingly.

"Gai-sensei," Lee said. "Who is he?"

"He used to be Mitarashi Zabuza, gennin of Konoha." Naruto looked startled at that. "But on one mission, he just disappeared. Our spies in Mist easily found him. He had ran to Kiri, lied about his age, and joined the Kiri Academy. There, he killed everyone else in his graduating class. He worked his way up, and became one of the Mist Seven Swordsmen. Then after one mission, he fled, and no one knows why."

"You know all about me." Zabuza said. "But you, I know nothing about." He made a low, obviously mocking bow. "Care to introduce yourself, oh great Konoha shinobi? Or shall one of your little spineless brats do it for you?"

Gai looked down for a minute, visibly gathering himself. When he looked back up, his eyes were as hard as steel. He crouched into a fighting position. "I am Maito Gai," he said in an unusually calm voice. "Some call me the Proud Green Beast of Konoha. Some call me the resident Taijutsu expert of the leaf. Some people call me crazy." At that, Neji had the grace to look guilty. "But I'm not all fun and games, Zabuza. Let's see how we measure up!" With a shimmering of the air, both Gai and Zabuza disappeared.

There was a clanging of steel, and Gai and Zabuza met. Zabuza's oversized cleaver met Gai's fists, which were wrapped in metal. A small spark flew from where the two met, and the two disappeared again. The two were moving so fast that they couldn't be seen, except for brief moments when the two engaged each other. Gai appeared, blocking the sword again. Then they reappeared later, the flat of the sword blocking a strong kick.

'Damn!' Zabuza thought. 'He's much better then I thought!' While running, he sheathed his sword on his back, and began going through a series of hand seals. With a cry of "**_Mizu Bunshin no Jutsu! _**(Water Clone Technique)", a pair of Zabuzas arose from the lake. Both moved to engage Gai again. 'I hope you're getting all of this, Haku!'

From off to the sides, in a nearby tree, Haku was indeed getting this. But her attention kept being diverted from the breathtaking battle to one of the spectators. 'He's not that bad looking!' she thought. 'The technicolor hair, the purple eyes, he's really pretty hot!' Slapping herself underneath her hunter mask, she redoubled her focus on the battle.

Naruto was watching the battle intensely as well. As he watched, Zabuza attacked Gai from the rear when he paused for a moment. But something about Zabuza didn't seem right. Following instinct, Naruto's eyes faded into the Orange of the Nijigan. What he saw shocked him. Naruto screamed out, "GAI-SENSEI! IT'S A CLONE!" Hearing Naruto's warning, Gai threw himself flat, as another Zabuza attacked him.

Neji looked questioningly at him. "How could you tell? I couldn't!"

Naruto looked back at the white-eyed prodigy. "Water clones don't give off any heat!"

Back with Gai, he had managed to destroy both of the clones, but the damage had been done: he had been distracted. In his blind spot, Zabuza rose from the lake, and made a couple more seals. Gai was immediately trapped in an aquatic orb. "**_Suiro no Jutsu _**(Water Prison Technique)" he said in a self-satisfied tone.

"GAI-SENSEI!" Lee screamed. He turned to his teammates. "We must save him! He will not last much longer!"

Naruto nodded. "I know. Here's the plan. Lee, you guard Tazuna. Neji, you take care of anyone who gets past Lee. Kouken, you take anyone who gets past Neji. Ten-chan, let's rock!" Neji and Ten-Ten nodded, and Kouken let out an approving bark, but Lee opened his mouth to protest. Naruto sighed, then pulled out his secret weapon. "Lee, your flames of youth shall be damaged beyond repair if any harm comes to our client." That shut Lee up, and he began scanning the area for anyone that could hurt their client.

Inside his watery prison, Gai saw his students planning a strike. He shouted to be heard through the orb. "No! Flee! You must get out of here!"

Naruto looked at him pityingly. "Gai-sensei, you taught us more then how to wear weights and improve our Taijutsu. You taught us never to abandon a comrade. And if we ran now, that would make you a pretty crappy teacher. Ten-chan! Let's go wild!"

Ten-Ten took his cue, and launched a series of Kunai at Zabuza. With a bored look on his face, Zabuza drew his sword and deflected them. With a seal-less jutsu, Zabuza created a swarm of Mizu Bunshin. Half of them attacked Neji and Lee, while the rest went after Naruto and Ten-Ten.

With a palm thrust, Neji destroyed a clone. A spin and a kick later, two more faded into water. Lee was destroying a fair number himself, just by hitting them. Ten-Ten had summoned a bo staff and was laying waste to the ones near her. And Naruto…

Naruto flicked his wrist, and his spear flew out of the seal in his arm and into his waiting hand. With a quick thrust, one of the clones was skewered. With a couple more, Naruto's area was clear of clones. "Ten-Ten!" he yelled, and threw his spear at her. She smirked, and caught it. Ten-Ten drew a throwing spear, and launched them both at Zabuza.

Zabuza smirked as he caught the plain wooden spear. "Is that all?" he asked, but then saw the other spear flying at him. This one had the glint of bronze. With a contemptuous look, Zabuza jumped over the metal spear. "You missed, girly!" he yelled.

Ten-Ten looked at him with a smirk on her face. "I don't know what you're talking about, but I never miss."

A voice from behind Zabuza yelled "**_Shinko Henge KAI! _**(True Transformation Release!)" Zabuza looked behind him, and saw that the bronze spear had turned into that technicolor-haired kid! With another flick of his wrist, the real spear flew out of the seal. With a quick pressing of a seal, it turned into a blowgun.

"**_Sanshouuokaen! _**(Salamander Flame)" he yelled, and pressed the final seal, releasing a cloud of methane gas into the air. With a quick seal-less jutsu, the gas turned into a roaring cloud of fire, rushing towards Zabuza. With a curse, Zabuza ducked under water, dissolving Gai's prison. When the fire stopped, no one was there.

Zabuza resurfaced, fuming. He had been forced to release his prison by two kids! He charged at Naruto, wooden spear cocked and ready. "I'll kill you!" he screamed, and thrust it forward. There was a splintering, and a crunch, as Gai resurfaced in front of Naruto, metal-wrapped fists serving as a shield.

"Good job, Naruto." Gai praised. "Now leave it to me!" He closed his eyes for a split second, and when he opened again, he was brimming with power. "First Gate! KAI!" he screamed. "Second Gate! KAI!" Third Gate! KAI!" His skin turned bright red, and he began exuding green chakra. "**_Ura Renge! _**(Reverse Lotus)"

Suddenly, Zabuza was sent flying into the air. Gai appeared behind him and kicked him again. Zabuza flew around the lake, and at every point, Gai appeared near him and hit him in another direction. Finally, Zabuza landed back on the lake, much worse for wear. Gai landed next to him, still exuding power.

"I finish it now." He said in an ice cold voice. The chakra began gathering onto his left arm. "**_Toraatemi! _**(Tiger Blow)" he yelled, and charged forward, intending to put his fist right through Zabuza's gut. But before he could make it, Zabuza fell over, and began sinking into the water. Without thinking, Gai's attack dissipated and he pulled the mist nin over to the bank.

A quick check proved that he was dead, and the cause was very easy to see: several needles sticking out of his neck. The gennin stared at the prone Zabuza, and Neji spoke for all of them: "What the hell just happened here?"

The question was answered when a plume of smoke appeared next to them. When it cleared, another ninja in a mask was standing there casually, as if it were the most common thing in the world to appear in the middle of a bank of mist among hostile ninja. "I apologize for interfering with your fight. But I had no choice. If you had been successful in your attack, my own mission to slay Zabuza would have been a failure."

Gai nodded at that, and said "So you must be a hunter ninja from the hidden village of the mist, correct?"

The nin nodded, glad that the man had made her charade that much easier. "Now, if you will excuse me, I must go and dispose of the corpse right now, so the secrets it contains cannot be found by our enemies." She picked up Zabuza's body, and prepared to teleport away.

When she said that, it triggered a memory of something that Naruto had been taught by Ryusha. "_Remember, Naruto-kun." Ryusha said. "Hunter ninja use these lessons on anatomy to kill their target instantly. Then they immediately dispose of the body and take the head back as proof that they've completed their mission." _"Go ahead." Naruto said. "Dispose of the body now. Less of a chance for slip-ups that way."

The ninja looked at him, and even though Naruto couldn't see her face, he could tell by her posture that she was smiling. She murmured something that only Naruto with his keen hearing could hear."Wow. Cute and Smart." Then she disappeared, carrying Zabuza with her. As they disappeared, Naruto turned bright red.

Lee looked from Naruto to the space where the fake hunter nin had been a moment before. "In my youthful exuberance, I have become mildly confused as to the habits we just observed!" Naruto translated in his head to 'What just happened?'

"That hunter nin was a fake. If she were real, she would have cut the head off and burned the body right here, to avoid any complications. So that means…"

"Zabuza is still alive." Neji finished.

Gai shook his head, and went back into his goofy mode. "YOSH! With the powers of our youth, we shall overcome theses obstacles and defeat the enemy!" With that inspiring speech, Gai… fell over. Muffled by the ground, Gai said "In battle, I unlocked three gates. That took too much out of me."

Tazuna, still startled by the revelation about Zabuza, said "You guys can stay at my house. We're almost there."

* * *

At the house, Gai had been placed in a cot, while the gennin were gathered around a rickety table in the kitchen. Tsunami, Tazuna's very kind thirty-something year old daughter, brought them all something to eat. As Naruto slurped down his instant ramen, he said "We should probably elect a temporary leader while Gai-sensei's down. Any suggestions?"

Neji looked at Naruto. Lee looked at Naruto. Ten-Ten looked at Naruto. Naruto… blinked. "You guys sure?" All of them nodded in unison. "Okay then, I'm the new temporary leader. That's ok?" They nodded again. "Alright, first order of business, scheduling! Gai-sensei says that he'll be down for up to a week while his bones recover from the stress the three gates put on them. Luckily, it'll take Zabuza the same amount of time to recover from the means that girl used on him to save him."

Ten-Ten raised her hand. "Ten-Ten, we're not in the academy any more. You don't need to raise your hand when you're asking a question." She nodded in acknowledgement.

"Two questions actually. How are you sure he survived? I saw needles going everywhere in his neck. Two, how did you know the ninja was a girl?"

"Good questions, though I'm surprised you don't know the answer to the first one. Senbon needles, like the ones the girl used, when combined with a good knowledge of human anatomy, can be used to place someone into a false-death state through certain pressure points. It gives a very good illusion of death, but keeps them alive." The others nodded once again, this time in comprehension. "As to how I know she was a girl, as a member of the Inuzuka clan, my senses are much sharper then the average ninja. So I could smell it."

"You can smell if someone's a girl?" Neji asked doubtfully.

"Yeah. Guys and girls give out very different smells. It could be because their bodies are composed differently, or because girls take bathes much more regularly." Lee loudly proclaimed that it must be the first, because he bathed once a week. Neji inched away from him.

"So, anyway." Naruto said. "Scheduling. Two of us should be guarding Tazuna at all time, which will leave the other two to train to defeat Zabuza, should he recover before Gai-sensei." They quickly hashed out a schedule which gave them all equal time training and guarding Tazuna.

Lee asked the next question. "What should we be training in, Teichou?" Naruto looked at him blankly for a second, before he realized that Lee was talking to him. 'Captain Uzumaki. I like that.'

"My advise is to work on your strengths. Lee, your taijutsu is the best of us, so work on it. Gai-sensei taught you how to open the first gate, right?" Lee nodded. "Practice opening it for as long as you can every day. If your body gets used to the strain, it won't be as hard to keep the gate open if you need it." Lee nodded.

"I shall begin right now! YOSH!" he yelled, and ran out the door.

Naruto looked at his girlfriend. "Ten-chan, practice the **_Kazanashi _**(Volcano Foot), then work on infusing your weapons with chakra." Ten-Ten did a mock-salute, and left to begin work. "Neji, I'm not entirely sure what you should be doing. So just practice what you can already do." Neji did a solemn bow, and exited.

Tazuna, who'd been watching the meeting, asked a question. "What about you? Don't you need to train?"

Naruto looked over at him. "Of course. But my training's going to take a minute to set up." He assumed the ram seal, and began channeling chakra down toward his legs, more specifically his leg weight seals. With the added chakra, the weight tripled. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got water to run on."

He jogged out the door, much slower then he had been due to the weight change. Neji, who was practicing his Byakugan, noticed this. "What'd you put them up to?"

"Not sure. I stuck about a quarter of my capacity into them though." He jogged toward a nearby stream, while Neji gaped at him. Naruto's chakra capacity was huge. He had as much as Lee, Neji, Ten-Ten, and half of Gai, put together! If he put a quarter of his massive capacity into his leg weights… the amount scared the Hyuuga prodigy.

As Naruto practiced jogging on water, Ten-Ten was experimenting with what she called 'elemental kunai'. Each type of elemental jutsu used a different arrangement of chakra. If Ten-Ten replicated that arrangement, and placed it into a kunai, it would release a ball of that energy when it struck the target! She quickly began mass producing them and placing them into different colored scrolls.

* * *

In the middle of the week, they were all eating dinner. Naruto was being his usual bottomless-self, while Neji and Ten-Ten were much slower. Lee, on the other hand, had taken Naruto's hunger as a 'challenge from his eternal rival', and 'would eat more then he did, or would do a thousand pushups', and was eating just as much as Naruto.

In the middle of their meal, Inari, Tazuna's bratty grandson, spoke up. "Why do you bother trying so hard? Gatou's just going to kill you all!"

Naruto looked at him unflinchingly. "There are worse things then death. One of them is despair. Another is hatred. And a third is hunger, so let me eat!"

Inari burst out angrily. "What do you know? I bet you've been pampered all your life, with everyone caring about you and you never having to do a thing! You know nothing about having a hard life!"

The other ninja stiffened, as Naruto stopped eating. He slowly put his food down, and glared at Inari. "Shut the fuck up." Tsunami was about to reprimand him for using such language to her son, but Ten-Ten stopped her with a look and a touch on the arm. "You think you've gone through so much, brat." Naruto continued. "You have a family. So do I. Your mother and grandpa love you a lot. YOUR villagers love you a lot. When everyone outside your family hates you, and you've had, at last count, five hundred and ninety three assassination attempts, then you can whine. But until that day comes, shut the fuck up!" he got up and stalked out of the door. Inari burst out into tears and ran into his room.

Ten-Ten got up immediately after Inari left the room. She quickly followed Naruto. "He needs me right now." She explained, while Lee and Neji stayed put, gaping at each other speechlessly. They had known there had been attempts on Naruto's life, but not so many.

Ten-Ten found Naruto sitting on the roof, staring out at the moon. "You ok, Naru-kun?" she asked. When he gave no answer, Ten-Ten sat down on his lap. He gave no response at all. For a second, Ten-Ten was considering moving, but when Naruto's arm snaked around her, she knew she was needed there. Sighing, she cuddled up against his chest. They sat there for a while before Naruto spoke up.

"People like that really piss me off, Ten-chan. They think that just because they've had some bad experiences, they're entitled to sit around moping. If I did that, it wouldn't hurt me, but it would hurt the people I care about. The people I love." As he said that, his arms tightened around her, and she knew that she was included in that last part.

"I love you too, Naru-kun." She said.

Unbeknownst to them, they had sat directly above Inari's room. And he had left his window open, and he could hear everything that they said. Now Inari was deep in thought. 'By crying, I'm hurting kaa-san? I'm hurting Grandpa?' Wiping his eyes, he knew it was true. 'No more.'

* * *

So the week passed, with Lee causing himself less and less pain as he opened the first gate, Ten-Ten producing elemental kunai, and Neji's observation skills becoming better and better. And Naruto, he had finally gotten back up to regular speed with his movements. He had also been practicing with some of the jutsu from the Hatake scroll and the Uzumaki scroll. Gai was finally up and running.

Naruto was fast asleep in the spare bedroom as Gai prepared to guard Tazuna. "I wish for all of you to accompany me on my first guard shift. That way, you can familiarize me with the surroundings and all of the things you have discovered in the past week." Gai did a head count. "Wait a second, where is the youthful replacement captain?"

Ten-Ten answered him. "We were on guard duty yesterday, and he used Kage Bunshin no Jutsu to help the workers out. He maintained 400 of them for three hours yesterday. That was enough to put even him out. But knowing Naruto, he'll be up in a couple hours." Gai nodded.

"His youthful exuberance was most helpful in this mission! Remind me to commend him on it!" With Gai ranting once again, the four ninja (with the biggest one carrying a protesting bridge-builder) ran towards the bridge. In their haste to get Tazuna to the bridge, they didn't notice two sword-weilding men on the path to the house.

Naruto was awoken by his danger sense going off, and he heard a voice below him yelling "If you don't let him go, I'll bite through my tongue and choke on my own blood! So that way you'd have no hostages!" Thanking Kami that he had fallen asleep in his clothes, Naruto crept downstairs. He saw that two men had stuffed some cloth in Tsunami's mouth, making it impossible to carry out her own threat, and one of them was charging at Inari. The boy was yelling at them to let his mother go, and was about to be decapitated.

But the sword never struck Inari. Instead, the sword was stopped by a bronze spear, and Inari was saved. The sword-user ran back to his companion, and shouted "One of Tazuna's pet ninja! If you don't let all three of us out of here, we'll cut the woman's head off!"

Naruto grinned at them. "One, that's an empty threat as if you kill her, you'll have no hostages. Two, you guys need to bathe more often. You never know what's living on your skin." As he said that, he stimulated the part of his mind that communicated with the insects.

The results were immediate. The fleas living on the men bit in unison, making them itch uncontrollably. Their hands itched the most, and they were forced to drop their swords so they could scratch. Instantly, Naruto was on the other side of the room, knocking them out. Inari looked at Naruto with a mixture of indignation and awe on his face. "Could you have taken any longer?"

Naruto took the gag out of Tsunami's mouth, and turned to Inari. But instead of yelling at him like the boy expected, Naruto reached down and ruffled his hair. "Hero's always appear at the last moment!" He said as he grinned. "But seriously, Inari, I'm proud of you! If you hadn't stopped them from leaving, I never would have caught up with them!" Inari grinned widely at the praise from his new idol.

Naruto's danger sense was still going haywire. "They're attacking the bridge!" he exclaimed. "I gotta run!" With that, he took released his leg weights and disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

Tsunami and Inari stared after him. "Wow." Was all that Tsunami said.

* * *

At the bridge, they were indeed being attacked. Gai and Zabuza had engaged each other in combat once again, trading taunts (from Zabuza) and cries about youth (from Gai). Meanwhile, Neji was guarding Tazuna (with his Byakugan being able to see through the mist for the best protection), and Lee and Ten-Ten fighting the masked ninja that had identified herself as Haku.

With a quick motion, Haku launched a block of ice at Lee. It connected with his head straight-on, and knocked him out. Seeing that, Ten-Ten shoved Lee towards Neji where he could be guarded as well. But the distraction cost her, as Haku launched a series of Senbon at her. Ten-Ten took a couple of wounds, but nothing serious.

She looked at the masked girl. "You're going to have to do better then that!"

"So I will." She made a couple of seals. "**_Sensatsu Suisho! _**(A thousand flying water needles of death)" Senbon materialized from the water, and flew at Ten-Ten. With a quick motion, she conjured a pair of shields and used them to block every single one of the needles.

"You are very good." Haku stated calmly. "I shall have to use my best technique on you." With another series of hand seals, the water surrounding Ten-Ten rose up into rectangular ice blocks, surrounding the weapons mistress. The ice was so finely polished that Ten-Ten could see her reflection in it. "**_Makyo Hyosho! _**(Demonic Ice Mirrors)" she called, then walked over to the ice mirrors.

"It has been fun fighting you, but no one escapes this jutsu." She said matter-of-factly, and walked into one of the ice blocks. Now Haku was literally inside the blocks, and Ten-Ten could see a Haku in each one of them. Then, in a flash of motion, Ten-Ten sprouted needles on her. She yelled in pain.

'What can I do?' Ten-Ten asked herself, then snapped her fingers. She reached into her ninja pouch and withdrew two of her knew scrolls, both white, but one with a border of yellow and the other with a border of red. With a quick movement, she opened them both, and began launching the chakra charged kunai at the mirrors.

When the kunai hit the mirrors, they either let out a pulse of electricity or a ball of fire. In the mirrors, Haku said "Very impressive, but you would need much more power then that to defeat the Ice Mirrors." Another flash, and all of the fires were extinguished and Ten-Ten had sprouted another set of needles.

"Power, huh?" a voice from outside the mirrors said. "I can do that!" With a flash, Naruto appeared next to Ten-Ten, and made some seals. "Time to face my original jutsu!" He made some seals, and he left foot glowed with red magma. "**_Kazanashi! _**(Volcano Foot)" he yelled, and sprinted at the mirror ahead of him. With a kick, the jutsu sizzled into the mirror, leaving a giant steaming dent it in it. As he bounced back, musical laughter sounded throughout the mirrors.

"Very strong jutsu. If you could triple it's strength, it might destroy one of my mirrors." As the two watched, the mirror with the dent in it hissed, and the dent grew out.

Ten-Ten looked at Naruto. She knew perfectly well that he couldn't triple the strength of the Kazanashi without permanently burning his foot. But he had just jumped into the midst of the battle to help her without a second thought. She had to do something!

Another flash of movement, and some more needles appeared in Ten-Ten and Naruto. The only reason they weren't down right now was because they had been guarding their vital spots. Haku grimaced behind her mask. She had been hoping she wouldn't have to kill the cute boy, but Zabuza-sama had stated that she would have to kill who she fought today. So she drew more needles, and prepared to attack once again.

Naruto was panicking his head. 'The only other fire jutsu I can use right now is the one in my spear, but in an enclosed area, it would burn us as well! I'd survive, but Ten-chan probably couldn't! What can I do?'

'I've gotta save him.' Ten-Ten thought. 'I just have to.' As Haku launched her next barrage, Naruto moved in front of Ten-Ten, shielding her from any attacks. 'NO!' she thought.

A clanking of steel on steel was a surprise to all of them. All three of them looked down at the ground, where Haku's needles were. They had each been met with… a shuriken. Naruto looked at Ten-Ten, and saw that she was staring at the mirrors with a look of utmost concentration. His suspicions were confirmed when he looked at his girlfriends arms, and saw a black design in the shape of a shuriken on her shoulders. 'The Shinkotama Inner Weapons!'

The Shinkotama inner weapons was one of the bloodlines that Naruto currently had sealed. It manifested your will into a weapon or a shield that did exactly what user wanted it to do. Apparently, Ten-Ten had wanted shurikens to protect them from senbon, so that was exactly what appeared. It was considered one of the minor bloodlines in Konoha, as anyone with a sealing-scroll could do the same. But when it was in the hands of a Shinkotama, it was one of the most fearsome things in Konoha.

'This just got harder.' Haku thought. She launched another salvo of senbon, but more shuriken appeared to stop them. 'What can I do?' She launched more senbon then she ever had before, but they were blocked again. 'Hmm…' she pondered. Then she launched some at Naruto, and they all connected. 'That's it! The girl just opened her bloodline, so can't make it do everything she wants it to do! Right now, the shuriken only protect her, not her comrade!' As much as she despised underhanded tactics, there was no other choice. "I'm sorry." She said, and launched a huge salvo at Naruto with exaggerated slowness.

'She's going after Naruto!' Ten-Ten thought as she saw the needles fly slowly at her boyfriend. Naruto knew it was coming, but held steadfast in front of them. 'He knows that if he moves, they'll skewer me! He won't dodge!' As if in slow motion, Ten-Ten kicked Naruto's legs out from under him, sending him to the ground. The needles flew right over him and into her. The shuriken didn't materialize fast enough, and Ten-Ten was hit.

Naruto got up shakily. "Ten-chan!" he yelled, and rushed over to his fallen girlfriend. She was lying there, needles protruding from her neck. "Ten-chan, hold on! I'll fix this!"

She groaned. "There's no time." She said softly. Slowly, she reached up and touched his cheek. "Naru-kun, I'll see you later." With a wink, she collapsed into the coldness of death.

Naruto stared blankly at Ten-Ten, his first girlfriend, his first love. Behind him, Haku, in his mirror, said "Is this the first time you've seen a comrade killed? It never gets easier. I mourn your loss."

Naruto stared at his girlfriend's cold body for another minute before softly lowering her to the ground. He stood up slowly. Without him realizing it, centipedes began pouring from his sleeves. Without him realizing it, Kouken rose from where he'd been guarding Tazuna with Neji, and ran to his side. Without him realizing it, red chakra began to pour out of him. "You killed Ten-chan. You killed my girlfriend. You killed one of the girls I love." He slowly turned around, and Haku flinched when she saw red feral eyes on an animalistic face. Slowly, Naruto pulled the mask up from around his neck to it's proper place on his face, masking his elongated teeth and widened whisker marks. "**I'll kill you!**" he screamed in a deeper voice. Above him, the red chakra congregated to become a giant red fox head.

Gai and Zabuza paused in their fight. 'This chakra!' Gai thought. 'Naruto! Could the seal have broken? No, it's just slipped a little. I've got to end this!' "Fourth Gate! KAI!"

With a bestial roar, Naruto charged at one of the mirrors. Quickily, Haku jumped into another mirror. But to her surprise, Naruto turned and followed her, as if he could see her! With a smash, he broke a mirror! As Haku slid across the ground, Naruto jumped back to the side of his dog and his bugs. The red chakra licked the insects, and they all mutated from centipedes to dragonflies! The stinging bugs rushed Haku, where she fought quickly to keep from being overtaken by the insects. At last, the onslaught abated, and Haku stared while panting at Naruto.

But Naruto was far from being done. The demonic red chakra licked Kouken. The loyal puppy gave a feral snarl, and underwent a transformation of his own. He grew to a gigantic size, so he was as tall as Naruto but far wider. His tail split into three, and turned into a snake. His head also split into three, all three heads glaring at Haku with red eyes. His fur turned purple, which shaded to red. "**Cerberus!**" Naruto screamed. "**Attack!**"

The transformed dog charged at Haku, who erected another barrier of ice to stop it. But it was to no avail, as the demonic dog crashed through it with gouts of fire. With quick dodging movements, Haku attempted to evade the quick canine, but she was still burned badly on some of her limbs, and somehow she lost her mask. The dog loomed over her, preparing to bite her head off. But something stopped it.

"**No.**" Naruto said, still in that deep demonic voice, but with more strength. "**Ten-chan wouldn't have wanted that. She wouldn't want me to be a killer.**" The power in that voice made Haku shiver, half in fear and half in desire. Naruto's head shot up, as he scented something. "**Gai-sensei!**" he yelled. "**We've got over a hundred incoming!**"

Gai looked at his opponent. "Backup?" he inquired. Zabuza shook his head.

"I know nothing about them."

A cruel voice sounded out. "So, Zabuza, you couldn't even finish off an old man, four pathetic ninja, and one crazy one." Gatou said. "Good thing I never was going to pay you in the first place. So much easier just to use ordinary mercenaries to kill you once you're tired out, isn't it?" The short man leered at Haku. "As for you, I haven't forgiven you for almost breaking my arm. We'll have some… fun before you die."

Naruto snarled again. "**I don't have time for this!**" He made some seals. "**_Kuchyose no Jutsu! _**(Summoning technique)" he cried as he bit his thumb and pounded it into the ground. The familiar plume of smoke arose, but Gai frowned. This cloud was far too big for Shainingu, and he was the strongest that Naruto could summon.

The dragon that emerged was not Shainingu. It was twice his size, and instead of silver shading to blue, it was black shading to red. It was so large that parts of it hung off the bridge, and it loomed over the advancing mercenaries. "Who calls Ragnarok, King of Dragons?" it enquired. As it said that, Zabuza felt his jaw hit the ground. He looked at the blonde kid who was standing on Ragnarok's head, and he remembered the mission that caused him to desert the mist in the first place.

_"Didn't you once have a code about not killing family members?" Ryoto asked._

_"I still do, but I don't plan on killing you, Ryoto. I'm simply going to incapacitate you, then fulfill my mission."_

_Ryoto shook her head from side to side, making little tsking noises. "If you still maintain that code, then why are you trying to kill our nephew?"  
_

_For the first time in a long time, an emotion crossed Zabuza's face: shock. "Nephew? He's a member of our- I mean, your clan?"_

_"Is your information so bad that you didn't know that Naruto over there is a member of all of the thirteen clans of Konoha? Yes, he is your nephew, and if you touch him, it will spark a war between Konoha and Kiri."_

He shook his head, clearing his mind of the memories as he heard the answer. "**I, Uzumaki Naruto, have summoned you.**"

"Uzumaki Naruto?" the dragon said questioningly. "Aren't you my son's summoner? How can you summon me?"

"**Long story. Tell you later.**" He said, and the dragon nodded, then proceeded to demolish Gatou's mercenary army, followed closely by Gatou himself. Then, the king of dragons disappeared.

Naruto looked over Haku, who was still staring at him. He saw Zabuza, whose mouth was still gaping. There was Lee, who was out cold. There was Neji, who was imitating Zabuza. Gai gaped at him as well. And Ten-Ten… Ten-Ten stirred. A shot of joy pulsed through Naruto, as he realized his girlfriend was still alive!

A whine from Cerberus brought him back to earth. Naruto pulled his mask back down to his neck, and felt his eyes turn back to normal. His teeth shortened, and his claws turned back into nails. At the same time, Cerberus shrunk and lost heads until he turned back into Kouken. Once again, Naruto surveyed the people. "Me go sleepy." He said wearily, and passed out on the bridge.

* * *

When Naruto woke up, he saw blurry shapes surrounding him. "Where am I?" he asked out loud. The second the words left his mouth, he felt something tackle him, yelling "You're alive! You're alive! You're alive!"

"Come on, Ten-Ten!" A male voice said. "Let him breathe, or you'll finish the job those two started!"

"Hey!" a deep masculine voice said. "It was a job!"

Naruto blinked, and could finally see clearly again. Surrounding him was Zabuza, Haku, Neji, and Inari. Currently attached to his neck was Ten-Ten. Naruto wrapped his arms around her, and began stroking her (currently loose) hair to calm her. He shot a look over at Haku, who was looking back at him. He mouthed 'Thank you', and she nodded solemnly.

After Ten-Ten released Naruto, he looked around at them. "So, where're Thing One and Thing Two?"

"Oh, Lee and Gai-sensei are still guarding Tazuna. He keeps saying that there's no need, but Gai-sensei won't take no for an answer. I think he just like being called a SUPER bodyguard." Neji replied. Naruto nodded. That sounded a lot like Gai.

Haku spoke up next. "So, I don't think we've actually been introduced. You are?"

"Naruto." Zabuza said. Everyone looked at him in shock. "What? We've met before, briefly. I only just recognized him when he summoned Ragnarok."

"Um… How exactly do you know me?"

"Oh, I tried to kill you once." Zabuza said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "What?" he said, in response to everyone's glaring. "I was sent on a suicide mission by the council, which I refused to complete upon learning you were family." Everyone relaxed, with Naruto letting out a breath of air he hadn't known he'd been holding.

"So, I'm Naruto. Nice to meet you…"

"Haku. Likewise."

"So, are you two coming back home with us?"

The two missing nins exchanged looks. "Um, why would we?"

"Because you have no place else to go and have a guarantee of a good reception."

"YOU can guarantee that?"

Naruto sat up in his cot. "I, Uzumaki Naruto, on my word as head of Clan Uzumaki, one of the fourteen greater clans of Konoha, guarantee Mitarashi Zabuza and… Haku, you're going to have to give me a clan name."

"Umm… I don't think I have one."

"Ok, you'll have to be taken into one of the clans. We'll figure out which one later. So anyway, I guarantee Mitarashi Zabuza and Haku safe passage into Konohagakure, where they will be allowed to join our ninja force."

Zabuza and Haku exchanged looks. "That's good enough for me!" Zabuza said. "When do we leave?"

"When the bridge is done, and I can move."

The others agreed, and began to file out, except for Ten-Ten. "So, um… Naruto? What exactly happened when I got put into a false-death state?"

Naruto sighed. "I'm not sure. My memories are kinda hazy. All I know is I somehow summoned the king of dragons, whooped Haku's ass, turned Kouken" he looked over at his faithful dog, who was currently napping next to the bed. "into a version of Cerberus, mutated my bugs, and…" he closed his eyes, and when he opened them, the irises were bright red. "unlocked the next stage in my Nijigan."

"What's that one do?"

"My clan scroll says it allows me to see blood. I can see veins and arteries and what flows through them like I can see Chakra Coils when I've got the Byakugan on." Ten-Ten nodded, and cuddled up next to him. "So, you're seeming awfully affectionate today."

"Shut up and hold me."

* * *

About a week later, the bridge had been finished, and Team Gai with Zabuza and Haku were filing out of Wave Country. Inari shouted after them. "Naruto-nii-san! You'd better visit soon!"

Naruto shouted back. "Of course! See ya soon!"

One of the workers standing next to Tazuna said "So, what're we going to name the bridge?"

"I think we should name it after Naruto, because we couldn't have done it without him. Without him, we'd all still be cowering in fear from Gatou and his men." The others nodded, but there was one objection.

"Are you sure?" another worker asked. "He has one hell of a long name."


	15. Welcome to the Clan

A/N: Well, it's that time again. The time for... new chapters! Time for chapter 15, and I hope you guys enjoy!

WARNING: there is a kiwi in this chapter! For those of you who don't know what that is, it's like a lemon's much younger brother! You probably wouldn't notice it if I didn't put this warning up!

* * *

Team Gai (Plus Two) were walking back to Konoha, along the same path that they had taken to get there in the first place. It was completely peaceful, with birds chirping, breeze whistling through the trees, and people talking about the virtues of senbon vs. kunai. As Haku and Ten-Ten debated, Naruto walked back to where Zabuza was.

"How're you doing, Zabuza?" he asked.

The missing nin shrugged. "As well as can be expected, considering that." He said, gesturing at Lee and Gai. Sure enough, Lee had just promised that if Gai didn't finish 200 bowls of soup, he would crack boulders with his little two until the end of the week.

"I agree, they're the strangest shinobi I've ever met." Naruto said. The two walked in a companionable silence for a while, letting the sounds of double-promises wash over them. All of a sudden, something hit Naruto. "Hey, Zabuza? What exactly are you?"

Zabuza looked at him as if he were a moron. "I'm a person. I breathe air and drink water. Occasionally, I even eat food. Sometimes, I-"

"Not that you stupid dummy. In relation to me, what are you? I'm of the Mitarashi as well as all the other clans, so I'm somehow related to you. What are you?"

Zabuza thought for a moment. "You know, that's a very good question. I'm Ryoto's brother, and I know you know her, considering she stopped me from splitting your head open."

"Ah, Aunt Ryoto. That would make you Uncle Zabuza!" Naruto exclaimed. "Wait a sec, that's too long. Uncy Zabu!"

"If you ever call me that again, I'll kill you."

"Point taken."

Another few moments passed in silence before Naruto spoke up again. "Why'd you leave, Zabuza? From what I know, you abandoned your team when you were a gennin, on your first C-class mission. Why?"

The question hung between them for a couple of moments, before Zabuza answered. "The Hyuuga aren't the only clan to have a branch house, they're just the ones that are most obvious about it." Neji's ear twitched as he began to listen in on this conversation. "They're also the only ones who mark their branches with cursed seals. But all the branch houses in all the clans are designed for the same purpose: protecting the main house."

"I was a member of the Mitarashi branch house. I was groomed to protect the heir, and everything I did, from the games I played to the food I ate, prepared me for that purpose." Zabuza continued. "I had no freedom, no life outside of the constant directive to protect the main house. I couldn't take it anymore, so I ran the first chance I get."

Naruto nodded. "That actually makes sense. You ran to stop yourself from being a slave."

"Slave? Why use such a derogatory word? Most Main House members call us protectors, bodyguards, or at times, meat shields."

"I'm not like most Main House members. As a matter of fact, when I rebuild clan Uzumaki, there won't be a branch house. I hope our example will make the others do the same."

The two walked more, when Zabuza instigated the conversation this time. "Do you know how much I risk by going back to Konoha? I risk my body, my mind, hell, even my life by following you back the leaf village."

"Why? In our Bingo Books, you're only a C-class missing nin. If you were brought back, you'd be incarcerated for a couple days, but that's all."

"Not from the government. From the Mitarashi. I'm a cowardly protector in their books. I ran away at the first sign of trouble, and for that, I do believe the penalty is death."

"But I'll appeal to the Mitarashi elders, and I'm sure they won't do anything!"

Zabuza snorted. "Naruto, you've never seen the bad side of the Mitarashi elders. My remains will be shown to future clan children as an example of exactly what pressure points you have to hit to cause maximum pain."

Naruto thought about that for a second. "You wanna be an Uzumaki?"

Zabuza started. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"I mean that as Clan head, I can take you into the Uzumaki clan. That would actually be a good thing for me, as you could be both my personal bodyguard and hold my seat in the council until I'm ready for it."

The ex-mist nin looked at him as if he were both the most generous person in the world, and slightly crazy. "Are you friggen nuts?" he asked incredulously. "Not only would that put you on the wrong side of the Mitarashi elders, but in case you've forgotten, I'm a missing-nin twice over, and I've tried to kill you!"

"Yeah, people always did say I was too damn nice for my own good. But if the alternative for you is death, you're gonna be an Uzumaki." Naruto concluded, leaving no room for argument. "Hey!" he yelled up front. "Haku-chan!" A moment later, the girl was next to the two of them. "Have you decided what clan you want to be in?"

Haku raised her eyebrow in question. "Why exactly do I want to be in a clan again? From what I can tell, being in a clan is just pointless organization."

Naruto nodded. "True, but you should be in one for a couple reasons. One, a clan is your family. I want you to have some kind of family in Konoha. Two, they'll help you get settled in the village. And finally, though no one admits it, there's a kind of prejudice against Ninja not in clans. They're looked down upon as 'lesser ninja' by civilians, who only know that all famous ninja come from clans. And I'll be damned if one of my precious people is looked down upon as a lesser ninja." At that last part, Zabuza arched an eyebrow of his own, and Haku turned bright red. Naruto, of course, was oblivious to what he had just said.

But one person that had noticed what Naruto had just said (albeit unknowingly), and the reaction of Haku, was Ten-Ten. She groaned internally. 'Another one?' she thought. 'He already has me and Ino, and we'd do anything for him! Why another one!' But even as she gripped about it, she knew the answer. Naruto had about as much control over who he fell in love and who fell in love with him as fishes did over the fact that they needed water. He simply fell in love multiple times, and his heart would be crushed if he was forced to stop loving someone. 'I'll talk to Ino, and she's not gonna be happy.'

Back with Naruto and the two former mist nins, Haku decided that she would follow Zabuza into the Uzumaki Clan. Zabuza looked at his apprentice, then at Naruto, and made a decision. Haku had been following him around slavishly for too long. It was time that she started to show some independence. And to create independence, one needed to craft disobedience. Zabuza made a gesture towards Ten-Ten for Naruto, who noticed that his girlfriend was alone and decided to keep her company. With Naruto gone, Zabuza put his plan into action.

"Haku, I forbid you from dating Naruto." He said. "You've always obeyed me before, and I expect you to now."

"B-But Why, Zabuza-sama?" Haku stammered out. She had indeed developed quite the thing for Naruto. First, it had started with his looks and obvious intelligence. Then it had been his raw power and devotion to his friends. Then, on the trip back from Wave Country, she had talked with him and found his fun-loving and warm personality to be the perfect compliment to her serious nature and seemingly-cold disposition.

In answer to her question, Zabuza said, "You've never asked for a reason before. Don't start now." With that, he walked off to walk with Neji, leaving a very confused and depressed Haku behind him.

Still watching from the side, Ten-Ten was in two minds. The first was that she wouldn't have to share Naruto anymore! But that mind faded away as she looked upon the heartbroken look on Haku's face. She was sure that eventually, a matching look would be on Naruto, and that, she had to stop.

'I'll do it.' She thought grudgingly. 'But I won't enjoy it. But I have to remember that there's always some piece of Naruto that they'll never take away from me. I need to remember that.' The proverbial lightbulb went off over her head, and the look that crossed her face was a mix of lust, triumph, and courage. 'I'll take the one thing that he'll never be able to give to anyone else.'

* * *

After another couple hours of travel, Team Gai plus two made it back to Konohagakure. As they stood in front of the gates, a sentry shouted down "State your name and business!"

Gai struck a pose. "I, Maito Gai, along with my youthful pupils, return from our S-rank mission with two renegade ninja who wish asylum within Konoha!"

That caused a couple of blinks and dropped jaws. "S-rank?" the sentry said. "We were told you were on a C-rank!"

Gai's teeth blinded several of the ninja on the wall. "Indeed we were, but it was upgraded due to the interference of several ninja!" Still trying to blink their eyes clear, the sentries waved Team Gai through. Once inside, they hastily made it to the Hokage tower.

"So, Gai-kun." Sandaime said. "What's this I hear about an S-rank mission?" Gai hastily launched into a serious (for him) explanation of the events that had occurred in Wave country.

"And so, the rest of a payment for an S-rank mission should be coming in within the week!" Gai concluded.

"Very good, Gai-kun." The Hokage said. "And you as well, Ten-Ten-Chan, Neji-kun, Lee-kun, and Naruto-kun." The old man turned to the two former-mist nins. "And I take it that you two wish to join our ninja force?" The two nodded, and Sandaime said "I have no problems with Haku, but you, Zabuza-san, are a C-rank missing nin from Konoha. You have been brought in, and your penalty is a day of jail time. When you're done with that, you'll be turned in to the Mitarashi for-"

Naruto raised a hand to halt the old man. "No, he won't, Hokage-sama." Sandaime started in shock. Naruto was never respectful unless the situation was completely serious! "I have already pledged my word as clan head, and scion of the Mitarashi clan, to take in both Zabuza-san and Haku-chan as Uzumaki clan members."

A ghost of a smile settled on Sandaime's face. "Very well then. Since it is well within your capacity as Uzumaki clan head to adopt someone, and within your power as a Mitarashi clan member to renounce rights on a missing nin, I find no problems here. After Zabuza-san is done with his day of imprisonment, he shall be registered as Uzumaki Zabuza, Jounin of Konoha. And, Gai, in your estimation, what rank is Haku-chan?"

Gai said "I have no idea, Hokage-sama. At the time when the youthful Haku was fighting, I was engaged with Zabuza! My pupils would know better then I!" In response, the Hokage turned to Team Gai.

"Don't know." Neji said. "I never fought her."

"Haku knocked me out with a block of ice early in our fight!" Lee shouted. "She is at least a chunin!"

Ten-Ten continued. "She put me in a death-like state in the midst of combat while deflecting my newly awakened bloodline. Jounin at least."

Naruto concluded. "She held out for over ten minutes against me, and well over a minute against me on… my higher power stage." Sandaime flinched, knowing exactly what that meant. "I'd say ANBU, more likely hunter nin."

Sandaime thought for a minute. "Hmm. I'll average it out, and put Uzumaki Haku as a Jounin of Konoha. If she proves herself, she'll be in ANBU sooner or later." Everyone nodded. Sandaime reached under his desk and produced a pair of Konoha forehead protectors, as well as two Jounin uniforms. "Naruto-kun, Haku-chan and Zabuza-kun will be staying with you in your apartment with you and Ibiki for a while, while we create a new clan compound. There should be more then enough room with your bodyguard dismissed." Everyone nodded. "Good job, everyone. Team Gai is getting the credit for an S-rank mission, and each of you is getting S-rank pay! Dismissed!"

Zabuza was escorted to a minimal-security prison for the day by two chunin, and he waved goodbye to his friends and apprentice. Team Gai with Haku left the tower, and began walking down the road. Soon enough, Lee and Gai left to train, and Neji had to check in with Hiashi, leaving Naruto alone with Haku and Ten-Ten.

"Well, Haku-chan, you want us to show you around?" Naruto asked, and Haku nodded. This lead to a tour around the village, with landmarks from the thirteen clan compounds, to Naruto's home, to Ichiraku ramen. As they finished their lunch, Naruto said "Now, we'll introduce you to some of the people around here! Ten-chan, what day is it?"

Ten-Ten thought for a second. It was true that being on the road and in combat tended to make you lose track of the day of the week, but she had an excellent memory for that kind of thing. "It's Thursday."

"Perfect! Today's the combined training session! We can have her meet the others!" Naruto exclaimed. Ten-Ten nodded her agreement, and the three went off towards the training fields. Sure enough, soon they found the other three teams engaged in an all out sparring match, team vs. team vs. team. As they watched, Team Kurenai was knocked out as Kiba was sent flying by a jyuken thrust from Hanabi. Soon afterwards, Team Asuma was taken down as Chouji received an axe kick from Sasuke. The nine rookies stood their panting for a minute, and that's when Naruto decided to make his presence known.

He jumped down from the tree, and yelled "Good to see you!" at everyone in general. All twelve of the people there jumped, then spun to focus on him. The looks on everyone's faces were priceless. There were a few shocked, a couple speechless, one proud, two glad, and one incredibly joyful. A split second later, Naruto went flying as he was met by a running tackle from Ino.

As he was crushed against the ground, he managed to get out "Good to see you too, Ino-chan. I missed-" But then Ino decided that there had been enough talking, and met his lips with her own. Haku watched the two kiss on the ground with astonishment, then turned to Ten-Ten.

"I thought he was dating you!" she said accusingly.

"He is." Ten-Ten answered. "He's dating her as well."

Haku gaped at the calm way she said that she was sharing her boyfriend. Ten-Ten giggled at the shocked look on her face. "You see, Naruto has the ability to date, see, or even marry, as many girls as he wants. But he wouldn't if I said no, even if it would tear him up inside. So I spare him some heartache, and me having to deal with a moping boy, by giving him the go ahead."

Oblivious to all the stares they were getting, Naruto and Ino still seemed to be trying to meld together, starting from the mouth. Behind them, Kakashi cleared his throat. Ignoring him, the two kept at it. Soon, all of them were loudly clearing their throats, and the two sprang apart, blushing bright red. Kurenai spoke up in an amused voice. "So, Naruto-kun, are you going to give everyone the same greeting?" If it was possible, Naruto turned even brighter red.

After an hour of visiting the teams (with them only having to separate Naruto and Ino two more times), Naruto took off, leaving Haku and Ten-Ten with the other rookies. Haku looked at the weapons mistress in confusion. "Where's he going?"

"He had a few errands to run. I think he wanted to take his dog to the vet, stock up on shuriken, and then he had some training to do."

Hearing this, Kurenai was pissed. 'What the hell is he thinking!' she thought. 'He just got back from an S-rank mission less then three hours ago, and now he wants to train!'

* * *

Five hours later, Naruto staggered into his house, exhausted. Ibiki met him at the door. "So, Naruto-kun, how was your training session?" he asked in an amused tone.

"Fine. I mastered two more of Kakashi-tou-san's assassination techniques, and I'm working on mixing my bloodlines. Right now, I've managed to mix my orange Nijigan and my Byakugan for about ten minutes before my eyes start to hurt." He said, and continued to stagger past the interrogator. "I'm gonna go to bed now." Naruto walked up the stairs to the second floor, and into his room.

When he got there, he attempted to collapse into his bed. But when he did, Naruto made a discovery: his bed was already occupied. Ten-Ten looked at him with a coy smile. "So, Ten-chan, did someone destroy your bed?" he asked. Instead of answering his sarcastic question, she pulled him down to join her.

Half an hour later, Ten-Ten cuddled into Naruto's chest. "Wow." Was all she said.

"I know." He replied. Naruto stuck a finger into his ear, clearing it. "You scream really loud, do you know that?" Ten-Ten blushed heavily.

Downstairs, Ibiki looked at the rafters. "Damn, she's a screamer." He said.

In the Sarutobi compound, the Hokage stared at the roof. "I did not need to hear that." He muttered to himself.

Across the village, in the Hyuuga compound, Hiashi brewed himself a pot of coffee. 'I hope they're done.' He thought.

In Wave Country, Tazuna looked at his daughter as they finished dinner. "I swear I just heard something." Tsunami nodded, looking around for whatever made that loud screaming noise.

* * *

The next morning, Naruto and Ten-Ten walked out of Naruto's home together (though Ten-Ten was walking much more crookedly then she usually did). They reported to their training area, where Neji and Lee were already waiting for them. "So," the Hyuuga prodigy said, taking in Ten-Ten's walk and the oddly satisfied look on Naruto's face. "I don't suppose you two would have anything to do with the extremely loud noises that kept the entire village awake until three in the morning, would you?" The two went crimson at the knowing look on his face.

But they were saved from answering by Gai, who appeared in a cloud of smoke. "My youthful students!" he proclaimed. "Despite the most unyouthful noises which kept us up until early this morning, I have gathered my energy and managed to nominate you all for the chunin exams!"

Three of them looked at Gai in shock, as if they couldn't process what he had just said. But Neji merely shook his head. "Gai-sensei, how is it possible that you're so awake this morning?"

"CAPPUCCINO!" he screamed.

"Well, that explains that." Neji said.

"Take these forms," Gai shouted. "And turn them in at the examination building in one week, when the exams will take place! Until then, you have the time off to do as you please!" With that, Gai bounded off to do five hundred laps around Konoha.

As Naruto was about to leave as well, he was stopped by three hands on his arm. He spun around, and saw that all of his team had grabbed him. Neji spoke up. "What should we do, Teichou?"

"Huh?" Naruto said intelligently. "Um, why're you guys asking me, and what's with the Teichou?"

The Hyuuga looked at him as if he were crazy. "You're the team captain. We all know it, you just don't want to admit it. Plus, when we were training under your ideas in wave, I got stronger then I ever have been before, and I'm pretty sure these two agree with me."

Lee spoke up. "Now, I can hold the First Gate open for over an hour without experiencing any side-affects! Soon, I shall start with the Second Gate!"

"I've never really bothered with elemental attacks." Ten-Ten said. "But now, I can blast people with any element at anytime I want!"

Naruto looked at his three teammates, all of whom had just declared him their superior. "Ok, if you guys insist." Naruto said. He looked at all three of them, and tried to think of ways they could get stronger. First, he settled on Lee. "Lee, you need to learn Taijutsu styles besides the Iron Fist."

"But Naruto-Teichou-kun, all I need is the Iron Fist! It's never let me down before!"

"Lee, someday, possibly in the exam, you might find someone who practices the style that is the exact counter to the Iron Fist. For that, you'll need to be prepared with a backup." Lee looked rebellious for a minute, but eventually nodded in agreement. "Now, for how to do that, go to the Sarutobi compound. Ask for Goki, and tell them I sent you. Tell him what you need, and I guarantee he'll be thrilled to see you." Lee nodded again, and ran off.

Naruto turned to Neji. "Neji, your weakness is long-range attacks. You need to learn some long range jutsus, preferably elemental attacks. To help with that, go look for Zabuza. He should be out of the slammer by now. Have him teach you a couple of water techniques, then look for others of other elements." Neji bowed formally, then walked off.

"As for you," Naruto said, turning to his girlfriend. "You should learn the chakra arrangements for more elements. I know you've got the basic five down, but there's a huge mix of them, which could make you extremely versatile. To start, go have Haku-chan teach you an ice jutsu. You should be able to get the feel for that arrangement soon." Ten-Ten jumped for joy on the inside, as she had been looking for an opportunity to talk to Haku anyway. "But first," Naruto continued. "Go see your parents. If I'm right, you haven't been home since we got back from the mission!" Ten-Ten blushed, her parents having completely slipped her mind.

Ten-Ten turned to take off, but Naruto grabbed her arm before she could go. But before she could ask what the problem was, he spun her around and planted a deep, deep kiss on her lip. "Remember," he said. "Love you." Before she could respond, he jumped off towards his favorite training ground, leaving a very stunned kunoichi behind him.

* * *

Two hours later, Naruto was at the training field, panting from the exhaustion that learning a new jutsu had put on him. 'I really need something to relax!' Naruto thought. He thought about all the times he had been relaxed. There was when he was water dancing, when he was with his girlfriends, or when he had been creating Kazanashi. 'I'll create a new jutsu!' Naruto thought. 'A funny one this time, but has some use!'

He remembered Kakashi's steps to creating a new jutsu. First, you figured out what you wanted to do. Then you figured out which seals went with the effect, and how much chakra and where was needed. Then you tested it, and repeated the second and third steps until it was done. 'I want to be able to blow stuff up when I flick it with finger!' Naruto decided. 'That would be so funny, and humiliating to the enemy! I could beat them with one finger!'

'So I need chakra in my index finger and thumb, of the explosive kind, and the ability to gather it quick with a minimum of seals.' So for the next couple hours, Naruto experimented with chakra, seals, and assorted placements. Eventually he managed to find one that works, with a one-handed hare seal, chakra into the thumb and index finger, and a casual flick. "Now what to call it?" He thought for a second. "**_Meiun no Furi-ku! _**(Flick of doom)"

"Impressive." A voice said from above. Ten-Ten and Haku jumped down to join him. "Not only would a low power blast be humiliating to an opponent, but a high power one could end the battle immediately." Haku said calmly.

"So, what're you two doing here?" he asked.

"Well, we were just working on ice jutsu, and we heard someone blowing stuff up over here. We figured it was you, so we stopped by to say hi." Ten-Ten said. Naruto grinned widely.

"It's always good to see the two of you!" he said, and leaned in for a kiss with Ten-Ten. But she stopped him with an outstretched hand. He looked at her in confusion, but she gestured for him to wait.

"Close your eyes!" she said, and he did with a smile. The next thing he knew, he was engaged in a passionate liplock, as if the girl he was kissing had been wanting to do this for a while. Naruto opened his eyes, and saw… that he was kissing Haku! He looked over at Ten-Ten, who was giggling.

"Was this your idea?" he asked.

"Neither of you two were going to get the nerve to do it!" she giggled out.

Haku had been stunned when Ten-Ten pushed her into Naruto's arms. Half of her wanted to kill the girl painfully, while the other half wanted to thank her on bended knee. 'Zabuza-sama's going to kill me!' she thought frantically. But then she mentally shrugged. 'What Zabuza-sama doesn't know won't hurt him!' and she went back in for another kiss, which Naruto returned fervently.

Off in the trees to the side of the training ground, Zabuza watched the two kiss, with Ten-Ten giggling off to the side. 'Well, that worked out nicely.' He thought. 'Now I know that she does have the capacity to disobey me. I need friends, helpers, partners, not slaves.' With a small bow to the two, he disappeared in a gust of wind.

* * *

A/N: And there's Haku, third girl in the Harem! We introduce the Sand Gennin next chapter, and then it's time for the first exam!

* * *

**Extra 2: Jutsus used in AF0**

Setsozoku: The word that triggers the ritual of adoption and attunement when all of the other conditions have been met.

Katon: Goukakyu no Jutsu: A fire based jutsu, that every Uchiha clan member has learn to be considered a man. It launches a huge fireball out of the mouth.

Mizu Bunshin no Jutsu: Creates a solid clone out of water, which contains is about a tenth as strong as the user.

Henge no Jutsu: Creates an illusionary overlay on the user, which makes it appear as if they've transformed into someone or something else.

Doton: Maruishi Meiun no Jutsu: Creates a large boulder which rolls towards an enemy or a target.

Ninpo: Suimun Souken: A genjutsu which places the target into a deep, deep sleep.

Chisen Kinko: A powerful seal, which was designed to seal bloodline abilities until people are ready for them.

Kuchyose no Jutsu: The Summoning technique, which must be performed after a summoning contract has been signed. There are numerous summoning contracts around, including (but not limited to) Dogs, Dragons, Wolves, Snakes, Toads, Slugs, and Turtles.

Kage Kase no Jutsu: A genjutsu which creates a shadowy shackle which locks the target to the ground.

Ryuton: Hikasui: A technique used by dragons summoned by Kuchyose no Jutsu. It sends hundreds of ice spikes wherever the dragon wants.

Dendouse: Sends an electric current running through something.

Hinotama no Jutsu: Sends a small fireball out of the users mouth.

Kikai Bunshin no Jutsu: Creates a clone out of the Kikai beetles, used by the Aburame Clan.

Kiken: Shapes a piece of wood into a wooden sword.

Ryuyoku: Gives the user a pair of dragon wings, which allows them to fly.

Katon: Ryuuka no Jutsu: Creates a large flame in the shape of a dragon which goes where the user wants.

Naiteki Bunshin: Creates a solid clone of the caster, only it has the inner personality of the caster.

Bunshin no Jutsu: Creates an illusionary clone of the caster.

Kawarimi no Jutsu: Replaces the caster with a nearby object, usually a log.

Housenka no Jutsu: Fires many small fireballs out of the users mouth.

Jujin Bunshin no Jutsu: Transforms animals (traditionally dogs) into clones of the user.

Ryusode: Shoots small, serpentine dragons out of the users sleeve.

Hitosu: Lets the caster throw fireballs.

Kazanashi: Naruto's signature original technique. Incases a foot in lava (without burning the foot), then a strong kick can kill almost anyone. The immense heat is strong enough to burn paper or straw with seven feet to ashes.

Shinko Henge: Literally transforms the user into something else, for real, not an illusion.

Sanshouuokaen: The name for a giant methane fireball attack that comes out of Naruto's spear.

Toraatemi: Used after opening three of the celestial gates. Gathers all the extra chakra around one limb, which is then thrust forward at super speeds.

Meiun no Furi-ku: A super powered flick, which, when it hits something, causes an explosion which has power proportionate to the amount of chakra used.

Sensatsu Suisho: Turns a nearby water source into a thousand senbon needles made of ice, which then dart at a target.

Makyo Hyosho: Creates a series of ice mirrors, which the user can use to teleport from mirror to mirror.


	16. Dealings

A/N: Sorry for the delay, everybody! Between work, back-to-school preperations, new novels, and my upcoming Fan Fiction Awards, I didn't get to get this chapter out as early as I'd like. But it's here! Now it's time for my sixteenth chapter of All For One, entitled _Dealings_.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Naruto walked down the road with an extra bounce in his step. He had just come back from his training session, which had ended with another girlfriend. Naruto had known Ten-Ten was up to something, but he had never thought she would set him up with Haku! Then Ten-Ten even said that she'd take care of Ino for him! Naruto had been so happy, he could have kissed her. As a matter of fact, he did.

As he walked down the road, his good mood didn't prevent him from hearing shuffling behind him. Naruto spun around, and saw a 'square rock' with eyeholes in it following him around. "So, guys." He said. "You coming out anytime soon?"

With a plume of smoke, the rock disappeared, and the sounds of three children coughing met Naruto's ears. "Geez, Udon!" one voice said. "You went a little overboard with the smoke bombs!"

Naruto looked on in amusement, as the three children inside the smoke jumped out, and performed their assorted poses, before yelling out their names. Biting his cheek to stop laughing, he looked at Sarutobi Konohamaru, Akamichi Moegi, and Gekkou Udon as they proclaimed themselves 'the Konohamaru Corps!'

"Good job, you guys!" he said. "But Udon did go a little overboard with the smoke bombs, and Moegi, your timing with the first pose was off by twelve seconds. I'll give you an eight point five out of ten." The three beamed at the rating, and Konohamaru jumped towards Naruto.

"You're back, boss!" Konoharu exclaimed, once again showing his gift for stating the obvious. "Come on! You promised that when you got back, you'd play ninja with us!"

Naruto scratched his head. "I don't remember promising that." He said.

"Well… you did! Come on!"

The blonde sighed. "Ok, okay." He said. "Now, you guys run and I'll be the bad ninja trying to get you!" The three giggled, and ran off, with Naruto jogging after them casually, occasionally shaking a fist in their general direction. As they rounded a corner, Naruto heard a crash, followed by an angry voice.

"What do you brats think you're doing!" it yelled. "Running into me! I'll teach you a lesson!" Naruto sped up, and saw exactly what was going on. Currently, a ninja with face paint, a cat costume, and a bandage-wrapped bundle on his back, was holding Konohamaru up in the air by the front of his shirt. Naruto cleared his throat, and the ninja looked at him.

"Um… you might wanna put him down." Naruto said.

"And why would I do that, brat?"

"Well you see, there a couple reasons. The first is, if you don't, I'll kick your ass. The second is if you don't, my friend over there," he jerked his thumb at Sasuke, who was seated on a nearby tree branch and was looking shocked that he'd been spotted. "would probably kick you ass. Third, that's the Hokage's grandson, and you don't wanna piss him off." At that last one, the ninja hastily put the boy down.

"Ok, Ok, the midget's off limits. You, on the other hand…" he said as he snaked a hand back towards the bundle on his back. But as he reached for it, a feminine hand grabbed it away from him.

"Kankurou, you dumb ass!" the girl said. "What the hell do you think you're doing!" Naruto watched this scene in amusement, seeing the formerly intimidating ninja turned into a sputtering, quivering mess. Then he looked closer at the girl, and what he saw proved the theory that girls look hot when they're mad. She was tall, well-built, and seemed to have a thing for fishnet. She also had four spiky blonde pigtails, and a very large fan on her back. The girl finished yelling at the boy she called Kankurou, and turned to Naruto. When she looked back at him, he swore he saw an admiring glint in her eye.

'Hmm… not bad.' The girl thought. "Please excuse my brother." She said in a tone that was as demure as she could make it. "He's a real ass sometimes."

Naruto nodded. "No problem. So, by your head protectors, you guys are Suna ninja. What would you be doing here in Konoha?"

The girl answered this, as Kankurou was still grumbling under his breath. "Oh, we're here for the chunin exams. You going to be in them?"

"Yeah, we just got our applications a little while ago." Naruto said. "I'm…" he quickly decided to abbreviate his last name. "Uzumaki Naruto. And you are?"

The girl blushed for some reason. "Oh, I'm Sabaku no Temari. This ass is Sabaku no Kankurou, and our other brother is-"

"Sabaku no Gaara." Another voice from nearby said. All three of them, plus the forgotten Konohamaru corps and Sasuke, spun towards the source, and saw that somehow, undetected by all of them, another ninja had snuck up on them. He was as tall as Naruto, and had piercing green eyes surrounded by dark circles. He was dressed in mostly black clothes, with an oversized gourd on his back.

Naruto broke the silence. "I take it that's you?"

With a swirl of sand, the other boy appeared in between Temari and Kankurou. "I am. I hope to see you in the chunnin exams, Uzumaki Naruto." With that, he spun around and walked off. Hurriedly, Kankurou and Temari ran after him, but not without the latter giving another wave.

Naruto, Sasuke (still sitting in a tree), and the Konohamaru Corps looked after them. "Well," Naruto said. "At least that wasn't weird."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Across the village, Ten-Ten was developing a headache very quickly. Ino simply would not stop shrieking! "What do you mean, you shared Naruto-kun with another girl! It's bad enough that we have to share him! You should at least tell me about these things! That way, I could have stopped you!"

The bun-haired girl sighed. Ino had been doing this for about twenty minutes now, with no sign of letting up. 'Damn,' Ten-Ten thought. 'She's shrill!' Finally, Ten-Ten had enough. "SHUT UP!" she yelled.

Ino immediately quieted down. Ten-Ten took in a deep breath, then said, in as calm a voice as she could manage, "Have you met Haku?" Still mute from Ten-Ten's outburst, Ino shook her head. "If you had, you would know that she is a sweet, basically innocent girl who cares about Naruto-kun as much as we do. And Naruto-kun cared about her. So either we gained a new friend and gave up a small piece of Naruto-kun we would have lost anyway, or have to deal with a pair of very depressed people. Is that what you want?"

Ten-Ten was treated to the sight of Ino doing a very good imitation of a fish. After a moment, the blonde said, "You are aware that if she hurts him, I'm going to hang her by her lower intestines, right?"

A ghost of a smirk crossed Ten-Ten's face. "You are aware that if she hurts him, you're going to have to get in line."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The rest of the week passed quickly, with all of the gennin training and practicing for the chunin exams. None of them spent much time with other teams, devoting all of their time and efforts into heavy team and individual training. The day before the exams, while Naruto, Ten-Ten, Neji, and Lee were going through a new teamwork building exercise, a bank of mist wafted through the trees. They instantly went into a defensive position, but relaxed when the mist dissipated, leaving Zabuza.

Naruto groaned. "Zabuza, can't you ever make a normal entrance?"

"What would the point be?" the bandaged ninja retorted. "But anyway, Naruto, follow me." Hurridly, Zabuza bounded through the trees, with Naruto in hot pursuit. The rest of Team Gai stared after them.

Neji called after them in his usual sarcastic tone. "Well, we'll just wait here until you get back!"

In a clearing not far away, Zabuza and Naruto stopped. "Well, kid, I figured that we should have a talk before your exams. They're big, you know that?"

Naruto nodded. "I'm gonna get in there, and show everyone how great a ninja I am!"

Zabuza looked at his clan head in silence for a moment. Then, suddenly, he barked out "You're being attacked by cloud gennin in the exam. You manage to knock two out, but the other is protected from anything but a lethal strike. What do you do?"

Immediately, Naruto responded with "Retreat to a safe location and wait for him to lower his guard!"

"WRONG!" Zabuza yelled. At Naruto's puzzled look, Zabuza groaned. "This was never a problem in Kiri." He muttered. Then, out loud again, he repeated "Wrong. If you're attacked by someone who can't be defeated unless you fight to kill, you kill them!"

"But, in the exam," Naruto said. "They'll just be trying to be pass the exam, just like me!"

"And in the future, when you meet enemy ninja, they'll just be trying to complete their mission, just like you! But you'll have no choice then, and you have no choice now!"

Stubbornly, Naruto stared back at Zabuza. "There's always a choice."

Zabuza nodded. "I agree. In this case, your choice is killing an enemy, or condemning your team to death. You are the strongest on your team. Sure, Neji is better at critical strikes, Lee is better at Taijutsu, and Ten-Ten is the best at long range combat, but you're the best at the one crucial thing: Versatility. If someone takes you down-"

"The others would beat him. They'd be able to analyze what I did wrong and take him down."

"But either way, they enemy will be dead. Only the way you choose, being merciful, would lead to your death as well. Do you want to die?" Zabuza continued. Seeing that Naruto was mulling over his words, he decided to put the icing on the cake. "And do you really think your girlfriends would survive you for long?"

Naruto blinked. "Huh?"

"I've seen you with your girlfriends. Ten-Ten, Haku, that blonde one, they all care about you a lot. So much so, that I don't think they'd live long without you there."

"They're all strong. They'd survive my death and… you know about Haku?" he asked as he registered Zabuza's last statement. The nin nodded, and Naruto shook his head. "Well, anyway, they're all strong, and they'd definitely move on from my death."

"Maybe." Zabuza said. "But do you really want to take that chance?"

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The next day, Team Gai headed into the Chunin Exam building, applications in hand. They were unusually silent, with Naruto still mulling over Zabuza's words, and the others were taking that as their cue to be quiet. As they climbed stairs, they soon got to a door with a group of gennin surrounding it, and two barring their way. The sign overhead read room 301, the room they were supposed to go through.

Lee began to head toward the door, when Neji stopped him with a hand on the shoulder. "Basic genjutsu." He said. Nodding, Lee began heading toward the stairs to the next level. As they moved on, Naruto shook himself out of his funk just in time to see team seven walking toward the genjutsu-cloaked doorway, the smug look on Sasuke's face saying he was going to take any chance he could to prove himself better then others.

Naruto held up a hand in a 'halt' command, something his teammates responded to instantly. He calmly walked backwards, grabbed Sasuke's shoulder, and steered him toward Team Gai. "What're you doing!" The usually calm Uchiha genius sputtered.

"Duh, Genjutsu plus morons equals easier time for us!" Naruto said matter-of-factly.

Sasuke snorted. "It'd make no difference."

"Just because they can't find Genjutsu doesn't mean they're not really good in other areas!" he said. Sasuke hesitated, then nodded in agreement.

Just then, Sasuke's teammates caught up with them. Hanabi sketched a sarcastic bow, while Sakura… Sakura looked ready to blow. "WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING, TOUCHING SASUKE-KUN!"

Naruto looked at the Uchiha, who seemed rather amused. "Um, your club president scares me."

Sasuke smirked. "She has that affect on people."

Once they had convinced Sakura that Naruto was trying to help him, and was not secretly trying to steal him away from her (a fact which Ten-Ten convinced her of most thoroughly), the seven gennin walked to the proper floor, and entered room 301. As they walked in, Sasuke murmured "This'll be fun."

Naruto put on a cocky grin of his own. "Tell me about it." The two looked over the other gennin for a moment, but then Naruto's keen hearing caught something behind him. Something that sounded like… murmuring and giggling. He turned around, and saw Ten-Ten whispering in Sakura's ear, with the pink haired girl giggling. Naruto walked back to them, and was able to catch part of the conversation before they noticed he was there.

"And then, he flipped me over, and growled in this really hot way, and then, just as I was ready, he-" Ten-Ten was saying, but broke off when she saw Naruto. "Oh, Hi Naruto-kun! We were just talking about you!" Of that, Naruto had no doubt as he saw Sakura turn bright red.

"I don't want to know." He said. "But if you're talking about what I think you're talking about, never mention it to any guys."

"Or what?" She challenged. "Will you…" Ten-Ten licked her lips. "have to punish me?"

"Severely." Naruto growled.

"Naruto!" he heard someone call from across the room, and he spun around just in time to be tackled around the middle by a blue haired girl wearing a heavy jacket. "It's good to see you, Nii-san!"

"H-Hinata-chan, I'm starting to have trouble breathing!" Naruto gasped out. A bark from inside Naruto's jacket let Hinata know that Kouken was caught in this stranglehold as well.

"Kouken?" Hinata said. "Um, but I don't see you!"

"Well, it's simple." Naruto said as his sister let go of him. "I channel enough chakra to Kouken to do a henge no jutsu, and he turns into," Naruto reached into his shirt and pulled out a tiny dog, who poofed into Kouken. "That."

"Um… can you do that?" Hinata asked.

"Just did."

"COOL!" a voice from behind Hinata said. Kiba and Shino had managed to join them. "Naruto, buddy," Kiba continued. "You gotta teach me how to do that!"

"Not happening, Kiba." Naruto deadpanned.

"Then I'll just have to kick your ass until you do!"

Naruto snorted. "I'd only need two fingers to deal with you." To no one's knowledge, his statement was entirely true. All he would need to do was nail Kiba with his **_Meiun no Furi-ku _**(Flick of Doom). Kiba growled, but was interrupted.

"So, the gang's all here." A lazy voice said, and Shikamaru and Chouji walked up to join them. Naruto looked at them, then between them to the empty spot where Ino usually was.

"Not really." He said. "Where's Ino-chan?" Shikamaru pointed behind him. Naruto spun around to see Ten-Ten whispering in Ino's ear. With a quiet groan, he went over to overhear their conversation.

"… And you can join us next time!" Ten-Ten was saying. "Seriously, I got tired after about half an hour, but he has incredible stamina, and can probably take us both! Oh, Hi Naruto-kun!" She looked up at him, the innocent look she was giving him being ruined by the bright red color of her cheeks. "We were just talking about… sparring! Yeah, sparring!"

"Uh-huh." Naruto said. "I believe that. Yup. No Doubts in my mind whatsoever."

From off to the side, a gennin wearing a leaf headband was observing these proceedings. He walked up and said, "Can you rookies be any louder? I mean, a quarter of the guys in this room don't look like they want to kill you yet!" All thirteen sets of eyes snapped towards him.

Kiba spoke for all of them when he asked, "Who the hell are you?"

"Name's Kabuto, and do I have good news for you."

"And that would be…"

"I can help you brats. I've collected a lot of info over the past few years, and I love to show off what I know to impressionable young rookies."

"So, Kabuto-san," Sakura piped up. "Does that mean that this is your second time taking this exam?"

Kabuto struck a pose of thinking, rubbing his chin. "Hmmm… been at this going on four years, exam is held every six months… Nope. This'll be my seventh time on this exam!"

Kiba, once again, was the most enthusiastic. "That means you've got a load of great info here!"

Kabuto nodded. "Yup. All stored on these." He proffered a deck of blank cards. "These are my ninja info cards! They've got all the information encoded on them, but it'll only show up if exposed to my chakra. I've even got a complete set of dossier cards, so if you need any information on anyone, just tell me."

Sasuke thought for a minute, then walked up closer to Kabuto. The other gennin followed him, so they formed a semi-circle around the glasses-wearing ninja. "Sabaku no Gaara," Sasuke said, remembering his (rather, Naruto's) encounter with the sand ninja, "and Uzumaki Naruto." He looked around, and saw everyone staring at him incredulously. "What? I want to know how much he's grown since we stopped fighting so much!"

"You know their names? That simplifies things." Kabuto said, and pulled out two cards. The blue glow of chakra surrounded them both, and pictures, graphs, and words appeared on them. "Sabaku no Gaara. Mission History: Eight C-ranks and wow, a B-rank. That's rare. Since he's from out in the desert, I don't have as much info as I'd like, but it says that he's returned from every single one of his missions without a scratch."

"Next., Uzumaki Naruto. Note that I'm using his primary clan name, but he is a member of the fourteen major clans of Konoha. Mission history is 15 D-rank, 3 C-rank and… One A-Rank." Everyone looked at Naruto, who rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.

"What? It was the whole Zabuza thing in Wave Country."

They turned back to Kabuto, who continued to read. "Taijutsu is very versatile, and has mastered at least Seventeen styles. Genjutsu is average, but Ninjutsu is huge. And his bloodline limit graph is off the charts. Sensei is Gai, teammates are Shinkotama Ten-Ten, Hyuuga Neji, and Rock Lee. And that's all I got." With nothing more to hold his interest, Sasuke walked off to a corner with Sakura following him. Naruto nodded to Kabuto, and went over to another spot with Ino and Ten-Ten whispering to each other behind him.

Kabuto watched them both critically. '_Hm._' He thought. '_Uchiha Sasuke has the bloodline that Orochimaru-sama wishes the most, and he appears to be much more easily molded. But Uzumaki Naruto has so much raw power, in addition to the Kyuubi and all of the bloodlines. He should try to mark them both, but should definitely mark Naruto first incase anything goes wrong.' _With his thoughts completed, he picked out two of his ninja info cards and dropped them. Then he walked away, curing the fact that the rookies took up too much of his time. Now he had no chance to bait the sound gennin.

Thirty seconds later, a grass gennin in a straw hat stopped where Kabuto had been and picked up the two cards. (S)he gazed at them. '_Hm… Uchiha Sasuke and Uzumaki Naruto. Just who I would have picked anyway, Kabuto-kun._' (S)he thought.

At the front of the room, a plume of smoke erupted. The first examiners had arrived.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A/N: Well, that was chapter 16! It was a bitch to write, but it's here! Next chapter will be the first exam, and chapter 18 will be the moment we've all been waiting for: Orochimaru and the Forest of Death!

Now, it's time for an advertisement. This time, it's for my Naruto Fan Fiction Awards, called The Foxies! A complete list of nominees is on my profile. I'm currently in need of two more judges! After that, we can start, well, judging! The winners get a one-shot written by me (or another judge who wishes to help) to their spesifications. The only thing I won't write is Yaoi/Yuri. Everything else is fair game, but you'd have to ask the others for what they will/will not write. The judges are (right now):

Vesvius no Gobi Doragon (ME!): Author of _Three for the Fox Boy_ and the much better known All for One.  
Daniel Goldberg: Author of _A Different Sort of Naruto_ and a very good critic.  
Soul of the Silver Phoenix: Author of _Silver Wolf and Red Fox_, and is also a very good critic.  
Diamond Avatar: Author of _With the Heart and Underware of Fire,_ and is one funny guy.  
S'TarKan: Author of _Team 8, _and is a very good author at that.  
Don't Really Care: Author of _Shadow Fox _and _Perpetual Smile.  
_JohnnyG: Author of _The Ice Princess of Konoha _and _Demoness_.

If you wish to join the judging panel, send me a PM, and I'll get back to you.

Until next time!


	17. First Exam

A/N: Ok... I think I've got some explaining to do. It's been three weeks since my last update, and I'm REALLY SORRY! I have a written statement here, but can't find it, so I'll give you the highlights: 1) This chapter was a bitch to write, and really boring. 2) School started, and that is also a bitch.

Ok, about this chapter... It's really one of my worst. That's not because of the writing, but because of the content. I always hate writing the first exam, but it's needed. I swear that the next chapter will be much better (and almost triple the size)! This is also one of my shortest chapters ever, because I couldn't think of a good way to stretch it out. Once again, really sorry.

On the plus side, I've figured out how to get tons of reviews: wait three weeks between updates! Remember, your reviews are to me what Kyuubi's chakra is to Naruto: Without, I write a decent story. With, I write a kick-ass story that you'd be proud to take to a frat party.

I've also received alot of PMs, which worry about my... six... stories, and think they will take away from All for One. Because I feel like writing analogys, I'll compare my stories to a Thanksgiving dinner. Funeral of a Hero is like those carrot sticks you have before the meal: quick, tasty, and gone. Three for the Fox Boy is like Cranberry Sauce: Enjoyable at first, but becomes a pain to finish later, and don't take it with milk. Brothers in Misery is like stuffing: Some people like it, most don't, but people keep making it anyway. Weapons of Life... is kinda like wine. You really enjoy the first glass, but the second and third are harder to take. Why you? is like Mashed Potatos, you really enjoy making them, people enjoy eating them, but it takes a while. But All for One... that, my friend is the meat of the meal. My main turkey.

Well, I've rambled on enough. Oh, and I've finally gotten all the judges for the Foxies! If you're one, and you haven't voted yet, do so ASAP!

* * *

"OKAY, BRATS!" One of the proctors screamed. "SETTLE DOWN!" He jumped when someone grabbed his shoulder, and saw Ibiki there.

"Excuse me, that's my job." He said calmly. The offending proctor bowed down and made an 'after you' gesture. Ibiki cleared his throat. "OKAY BRATS! SETTLE DOWN!" All of the gennin immediately quieted. "My name is Morino Ibiki, and I'm the chief proctor for the first exam! Now, brats, take a number," he gestured at another proctor, who was carrying a box filled with numbers, "then take your assigned seats!"

Soon, everyone was seated. "Now," Ibiki said, "I'll explain the rules of the first exam, while we pass out the test!"

All the blood rushed from Naruto's face, leaving him as pale as a sheet. "A PAPER TEST!"

"Yes, Gaki, a paper test." Ibiki said through a huge grin. "Now shut up!" Grumbling, Naruto sank back into his chair. "Ok! So here's how things work! You start off with 10 points! Each time you're caught cheating, or if you have a wrong answer at the end, you'll lose two points. The teams with the lowest amount of points at the end are eliminated."

'Yes!' Ten-Ten thought. 'Since we have more people then anyone else, we have the advantage here. All we need to do is wait!'

Ibiki continued. "And if anyone runs out of points, they, along with their entire team, are disqualified!"

"WHAT?" Neji and Ten-Ten screamd in unison. At the same time, Naruto and Lee both thought 'They're going to kill me! I swear!'.

"Now!" Ibiki shouted. "Show us what kind of shinobi you really are! BEGIN!" As one, the entire collection of gennin bowed their heads over the papers to read over the questions.

'Question One' Naruto thought. 'Hmmm…. Which tenketsu do you blast with chakra to disable the enemy's entire chakra coil… THESE THINGS ARE TOO DAMN HARD!'

Around the room, other gennin were reaching similar conclusions. One, a cocky gennin from mist, looked next to him, where Sakura was scribbling frantically. He looked down at her paper, and began to stealthily (to him) copy down her answers. As soon has he began number five, a kunai flew through the air, nailing his paper in the center.

"Number 15! FAIL!" Ibiki yelled. "Number 45 and 78 fail right along with him!"

With three of their number down, the rest of the gennin were beginning to get antsy. 'HOW THE HELL AM I GOING TO ANSWER THESE DAMN QUESTIONS!' Naruto thought.

A familiar voice sounded out in his mind. '_Oh, I don't know. Maybe you could find some super cool way to cheat, which is the purpose of this damn test, or you could sleep, or you could, maybe, TALK TO THE SUPER SMART INNER PERSONA YOU HAVE!_' Naruto smacked himself in the forehead, then began jotting down the answers that Inner Naruto relayed.

After ten minutes, Naruto wiped the sweat off of his forehead and looked at the full answer sheet. 'Hm. I've got all the answers, Ten-Ten can get the answers, and Neji has the byakugan, so he'll be good. But Lee… how can I help Lee? He's at the wrong angle for a shintenshin no jutsu, and none of the others can do anything better.' Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted Ten-Ten beginning to set up some mirrors for Lee. He was momentarily distracted by watching his girlfriend at work, with her beautiful eyes, carefully done hair, not to mention her perfect body (to him) wrapped in black pants and a pink shirt.

Pink shirt. PINK! That was the answer! Naruto spotted Ten-Ten glancing at him, and he shook his head minutely. She grinned, and took the mirrors down. Naruto refocused his attention back on Ibiki. 'Hm. Teach him to make me do the laundry!' he thought. Ibiki had come back from a tough interrogation and made Naruto clean his prized trench coat. But Naruto had left a special surprise for the interrogator on the back, initially planned for revenge, but now geared to a more practical matter.

Naruto closed his eyes and focused on the tiny slip of paper he knew was attached to the back of Ibiki's coat. He felt his own chakra resonating out of it, and flared it, activating the note. Before the scarred man knew what happened, his trenchcoat, once intimidating black, was now bright pink with tiny little bunny designs on the edges.

For a split second, the entire room sat, stunned. Then, as one, the gennin and the proctors burst out laughing as Ibiki blushed bright red. He shot a death glare over at the one he knew was responsible, but Naruto was in the middle of a jutsu. A Kawarimi no Jutsu to be exact. With a quick substitution, Naruto's paper disappeared, and was replaced by Lee's (almost) empty page.

The interrogator grinned at his ward, rage forgotten. If he had been willing to risk Ibiki's wrath in order to help his teammate, he was more then ready to pass this exam. With a quick movement, Ibiki whipped out his spare trenchcoat, and replaced his 'damaged' one so fast that it appeared that nothing had happened. "GET BACK TO WORK!" he yelled, and the gennin cowered over their papers.

All except one. Naruto stared up at Ibiki, and gave him a huge grin. Ibiki glowered at him for a moment, then twitched one eye in a shadow of a wink. Naruto nodded, grinned again, then returned to working on Lee's paper.

Another twenty minutes passed, bringing the test to the 45 minute mark. According to the paper, that was the time that Ibiki gave out the tenth question. Eyes flickered from the paper to the scowling instructor as they waited for him to begin talking.

"So," Ibiki said. "It seems that we have some regular bookworms in here. Or, some very good cheaters!" At that, almost the entire room flinched. The exception was Sakura, who was thinking 'I wonder who was dumb enough to cheat!'

"So now it's time for the tenth question! But first, another rule!" At that, the gennin stiffened. "You must choose whether to accept or reject this question! If you choose to reject this question, you will instantly loose all points, and you and your team will be failed immediately!"

Temari spoke out. "But then what's the point? Why would anyone actually reject the question!"

A sadistic grin crossed Ibiki's features, as he said "Because of what happens when you take the question, and get it wrong. If you do, then… you will never be allowed to test for chunin again, and will be a gennin for the rest of your life!"

Almost everyone in the room began sputtering. "B-But we know there're people here who've taken the test lots of times, and they got to the second or third round!" Ino shouted out.

Another sadistic smirk passed the torturer's face. "It sucks for you guys that this is my first year as a proctor."

This statement set off alarm bells in Naruto's head. 'What's nii-san talking about? I know he's been doing this every year for as long as I've been alive!'

'_Duh!' _Inner Naruto exclaimed, then proceeded to explain out Ibiki's convoluted reasoning. '_If they fail here, what's stopping them from failing in the real world? Only here, it's controlled. If they fail in reality, it costs us. Why didn't you think of that?'_

'I kinda did. We're the same person, remember?' At that, Inner Naruto began grumbling.

While Naruto was having that discussion with himself, people were raising their hands in droves to reject the question. When all of them were done, only half as many teams were left. Ibiki surveyed the remaining gennin, noting with pride that every single leaf team had stayed, as well as a sand team, the sound team, a creepy grass team, and a whole bunch of others. 'I'm losing my touch.' He thought.

"For all those remaining: YOU PASS!" Ibiki shouted. The exclamation was met with looks of shock, indignation, and in Naruto's case, amusement. The scarred proctor went on to list reasons extremely similar to Inner Naruto's reasoning.

"Congradulations!" Ibiki said, as he counted down mentally 'Five, Four, Three, Two, One, now!' As he thought 'now', the windows in the back of the room shattered, and a black ball rolled through. It extended out into a banner at the front of the room, reading 'Mitarashi Anko, Second Examiner'.

And that's exactly who stood in the center, Naruto's old friend Anko. "Ok, midgets!" She shouted. "I'm your second proctor, Mitarashi Anko! And now…" she said, all the gennin leaning forward in anticipation, "It's time for a headcount!" A crash of furniture and a number of grunts met that announcement, as almost all of the gennin fell face first on the floor.

'77… 78'. She counted. "79! Ibiki, you passed 25 three man squads… and one four man," Here she waved energetically at Naruto, "You're losing your touch!"

Despite the fact he had thought that only five minutes before, Ibiki shook his head. "We've got quite a few outstanding candidates this year."

"BULLSHIT!" she screamed. "I'll cut these guys in half by the next exam! Midgets! Follow me!" Anko jumped out of the window, with all of the gennin following her. Ibiki looked after them with a wistful look in his eye.

'Make sure Naruto survives, Anko.' He thought. 'If he dies in the next stage, who am I gonna kill to avenge my coat?'

The gennin followed the crazy chunin to "Training Area 44: Otherwise known as the Forest of Death!" Anko shouted gleefully. "Now, before I explain the exam, you must," She paused dramatically again. "Turn in these consent forms!"

Ino raised her hand. "Um, Mitarashi-san? What're they for?"

"They cover Konoha's ass incase you die. So then, your villages or clans have no basis on which to attack us." Everyone stared at the bunch of papers in her hand, until Naruto marched up, took one, signed it in under a second, and passed it back to her.

"Here you go, Anko-chan!"

"Thanks, Naru-kun! Oh, while these slackers fill out their forms," She put them down, "We need to talk." Naruto nodded, and followed her to a more secluded area.

"So, Naru-kun, what's this rumor I hear about you having three girlfriends?"

"Not a rumor, fact." Naruto replied. "The elders say I'm supposed to have one wife for every clan I'm a member of. It's impossible to do that, and I refuse to make a girl go out with me, but they seem to be volunteering!" Naruto was so engrossed in his rambling that he didn't notice the flash of jealousy that crossed Anko's face.

"Well, Naru-kun, just promise me you won't die here." She said in as serious a voice as she could manage (which was actually pretty serious).

Naruto made a big show of thinking about it. "Well, if you insist. As long as you answer me one question."

"Name it."

"Does Ryusha-kaa-san know you're wearing fishnet?"

* * *

A/N: Well, that was chapter 17: the first exam. Pretty dry, I know, but chapter 18 will be SO MUCH BETTER! I've been planning this chapter since I started the story! It'll be out... I hope, a week, but I make no promises. 


	18. What lies in the Forest

A/N: Well, people, it's that time again. Time for a new instalment of All for One! This chapter covers the ENTIRE forest of death part, though I admit, I skipped the sound ninja because I could never write that scene convincingly. I tried, and it sucked bad! Just warning you, some people can write fight scenes that are so convincing that you read them and think they're actually part of the manga, but when you find out they aren't, you think they should be. I am not one of those people. My battle writing is compared to the actual stories like stick figures to the Mona Lisa.

Ok, warning over. I think it's time to remind you that I don't own Naruto, never will, and wish I did.

On with the story!

* * *

After he asked his purposefully infuriating question, Naruto flinched, expecting Anko's fist to connect with his head. After a few painless moments, he cracked his eyes open, but they widened with shock. Anko, murderous, sadistic, and fun-loving Anko, was standing there, looking like she was about to cry. 

Instinctively, he reached out and enveloped his friend in a hug. As soon as he did, she clung to him like a wet rag. "What's the problem, Anko-chan?" he asked in a soft voice. "You can tell me."

She shook her head against his chest. "No. It'll just get you mad."

He pushed her back a little, then cupped her chin to make her look him in the eyes. "Anko-chan, if it gets me mad, it gets me mad. But it, whatever it is, is eating you up inside. I'd like to help."

Anko gazed into his eyes for a moment, as if searching for something. Seemingly satisfied, she nodded. "Well, the problem is that Kaa-san and Tou-san have been really mad at you lately. I've sided with you, so they're mad at me too!"

Naruto was struck dumb for a moment. "Why're they mad at me!"

The familiar canny look crept back into her eyes. "Adopted any missing nins lately?"

If Naruto's arms had been free, he would have slapped his forehead. 'Damn!' he thought. 'I meant to talk with them right after I did that, but then Ten-Ten, and Haku, and the exams, and holy shit I forgot!' Outloud, he said, "I am so sorry. I'll take care of it right after the exams."

She nodded. "Sorry for coming apart on you like that." She said as she rubbed her eyes.

Naruto gave an understanding nod. "It's alright. I should probably get back to the others before they start getting suspicious or worried or whatever. You stay here for a second while you compose yourself. I look forward to seeing the crazy bitch act in a minute." Without thinking, he bent slightly and delivered a tender kiss to her cheek. Before he realized what he had done, he bounded back to the others, leaving the second examiner rubbing her cheek with her mouth hanging wide open.

Two minutes after Naruto rejoined his team, Anko bounded back. "OK, BRATS!" She screamed, giving no indication that she'd been crying minutes ago. "I suppose you want to know about the second exam? Well, it's pretty simple. You turn in your forms to them," she gestured at a few proctors behind tables in an enclosed tent, "and get one of these!" she produced two scrolls. One was dark with a white border, while other what white with a dark border.

"The darker one is the earth scroll, while the white one is the heaven scroll." She explained. "Your goal is to obtain both by any means necessary, then bring them to the tower in the center of the forest!" Once again, the familiar sadistic smile crossed her face. "But remember, you can't open the scrolls until you get to the tower."

One of the rain gennin raised his hand. "Umm… why?"

"If you really want to know, open up and find out. But if you do, you'll automatically be failed! Now, turn in your forms!"

Team Gai gathered their completed forms, and approached the tent. Quickly, they were given an earth scroll. After that, they were shown to their gate. Before it opened, they had a quick strategy meeting. "Ok, Taichou, who gets the scroll?" Neji asked.

"Hmm.. I think Ten-chan should get it." Naruto said. "She can keep it safe and attack at the same time as she's our distance fighter. Plus, she can hide it with all of her weapons scrolls." The others nodded at his logic, and Ten-Ten hid the scroll with all of her scrolls containing Doton Kunai. No sooner had she finished then bell rang and all of the gates swung open. Team Gai took off into the forest.

* * *

A little ways in, Lee, who was leading the group due to his sheer speed, signaled a stop. They skidded to a halt in a nearby clearing, and three of them instantly assumed a fighting crouch, scanning the area for danger. Seeing nothing, they straightened up. "Lee, what's the problem?" Neji asked. 

"I MUST EMPTY MY YOUTHFUL BLADDER!" Lee shouted at the top of his lungs. He was instantly silenced by three hands being clapped over his mouth. Ten-Ten hissed 'shhhhhh!' Lee nodded, and the hands were removed.

"I must go to the bathroom!" Lee repeated, only much quieter. Naruto nodded.

"You've got five minutes." He said. Lee walked off behind a tree to 'preserve his youth from watchful eyes'. Exactly five minutes later, Lee walked back out.

"Well, that's a relief." He stated. "Well, lets get back on the road." The other three gennin exchanged glances, and as one, launched a barrage of kunai at 'Lee'. With a yell, the spandex-clad ninja fell to one side. "What the hell is wrong with you!" he yelled.

Naruto looked at 'Lee' with pity. "One, Lee is NEVER quiet for long. Two, Lee never curses, which you just did. Three, your eyebrows are too thin." 'Lee' looked up at his own eyebrows, which were, indeed, normal sized. With a cloud of smoke, the Henge dissolved leaving a ninja from Mist with a breathing apparatus over his mouth.

"Very good." The nin exhaled. "So, which one of you has the scroll?"

Neji looked at him as if he were stupid. "Um… we're not telling you. Besides, you're leaving soon?" The ninja looked confused for about half a second before he felt something being slapped onto his ass. Ten-Ten grinned.

"Bang." She said. The explosion note she had attached to the enemy went off, scorching his rear and sending him flying headfirst into a tree. A muffled 'Owww' was heard, and then the mist ninja lapsed into unconsciousness.

Neji activated his Byakugan. "Lee's tied up about twenty yards north." Ten-Ten nodded, and went to retrieve him. As Ten-Ten bounded off, Naruto searched the prone ninja.

"No scroll, his teammates must have it." He grunted out as he dismantled the Ninja's pack. "Neji, any sign of his teammates?"

Neji scanned the area quickly with his Byakugan. "No, but Ten-Ten and Lee are on their way back. Looks like this one came alone." As he spoke, the rustling of bushes announced the return of Lee and Ten-Ten. Lee was crying so hard that it was a wonder he could see where he was going.

"I apologize, my youthful comrades!" he said in a subdued (but still pretty loud) voice. "The unyouthful foe caught me as I was engaged in strategic warfare with my ever-hip body suit!" Ten-Ten's hand covered his mouth quickly, while Neji and Naruto both slapped him on the back of the head.

"It's all right, Lee!" Naruto exclaimed, trying to calm down his emotional teammate. "No harm done, and we even took down an enemy!" Frantically, hoping beyond hope that no one had heard Lee's hysterical crying yet, he began patting his friend's back. When that had no affect, he had only one option. "Lee," he said in a flat monotone, "your tears are extremely unyouthful." Immediately, Lee stopped crying.

After marking sure that he was really done, Naruto stepped back a little so he could see all three of his teammates. "But to make sure this doesn't happen again, when someone else is much better at disguise, we should agree on a password so we can identify each other." At the simultaneous nods, he thought. "Any suggestions?"

Immediately, Lee popped up. "YOUTHFUL EXUBERANCE!"

Naruto's first instinct was 'HELL NO!'. But before he could say anything, Ten-Ten piped up. "That's perfect!" she said. Naruto and Neji looked at her in shock, but before either could respond, she began whispering in Naruto's ear. A grin slowly crossed his face.

"Ok, we'll go with that." No sooner had the words left his mouth then a high pitched whining sound began. "DUCK AND COVER!" Naruto yelled. "FUUTON!" Sure enough, a huge gust of wind came out of nowhere, and blew the entire team away!

With a thud, Naruto landed. He sat up and rubbed his head. Then he was knocked down again, as he was hit by a flying Ten-Ten. "OOOOOFFFFF!" Naruto gasped out as all of the air was expelled from his lungs. Immediately, Ten-Ten jumped up, blushing bright red.

"I'm really sorry, Naruto-kun!" she squeaked out. He waved her off and got up. With a huge grin, he chuckled.

"Someone was listening. Now we just wait for Lee and Neji to show." Soon enough, the crackling of bushes announced Lee's arrival.

"Lee!" Naruto shouted. "What's the password?"

"YOUTHFUL EXUBERANCE!" the spandex-clad gennin shouted, throwing a fist up into the air.

Naruto looked at him with a critical eye. Mannerisms perfect, Volume perfect (he rubbed his ears). Naruto activated his Byakugan, and saw that the chakra circulatory system was right on the money. He nodded, and Lee walked over next to them.

Twenty Seconds later, Neji arrived. When Naruto asked for the password, he replied with "YOUTHFUL EXUBERANCE!", with a fist thrown up in the air. Naruto and Ten-Ten traded glances, and launched kunai simultaneously! 'Neji' dodged to the side.

"Damn!" Naruto exclaimed. "This one's much better!"

"But Naruto-kun!" Lee said. "He knew the password!"

Naruto answered without taking his eyes off the fake Neji. "Do you honestly expect Neji to squeal 'Youthful Exuberance', and throw a fist up into the air? This is an imposter who doesn't know Neji at all!"

'Neji' smirked. "Very good, Naruto-kun." With a poof of smoke, the Neji Henge dissolved, leaving a tall, female, Grass Ninja standing in its place. "Now, which of you three has the scroll?" Bizarrely, she reached up to her cheek, and pulled her skin down! Her eye turned yellow, and the three gennin were paralyzed in fright.

_A trio of kunai flew from her hand. One buried itself deep into Lee's heart, killing him instantly. Another flew directly into Ten-Ten's gut, giving her a slow, lingering death. The final one connected with Nauto's head, burrowing through the skull and impacting his brain._

'G-Genjutsu!' Naruto thought. 'My worst subject!' Out of the corner of his eye, he saw that both Ten-Ten and Lee were experiencing the same feeling of imminent death that he was. 'I can't get out of it!'

As he watched, the grass ninja drew three kunai. "I was hoping for a better fight." She murmured mockingly. Then she drew back her arm to throw. Naruto's eyes widened. 'Gotta do something!' he thought, 'Gotta focus on something else! Pain would work, but I can't move my arm enough to grab a kunai! Damn!' As the grass nin drew back to attack, something happened.

More specifically, Hyuuga Neji happened.

A flash of blue light and an open palm strike later, the grass nin was knocked to the side, just enough to dislodge her aim. The kunai flew wide, and connected with the tree near them. This was just the opportunity Naruto needed, as one landed a centimeter away from his hand. Using his very limited motion control, he grabbed the kunai and impaled his leg.

The burning sensation was just enough to break the genjutsu, and Naruto do immediately smacked both Ten-Ten and Lee, breaking them free as well. But in the brief time he had been distracted from Neji, it had cost the Hyuuga prodigy. His battered form flew at Naruto, who jumped rapidly to catch him. "FUCK!" he screamed.

'Hm, so he used the distraction and my missed weapon to free himself and his other comrades. He's better then average.' The creepy Kusa nin thought. 'Now lets see how he deals with the injured teammate.'

Naruto was barking orders to Ten-Ten and Lee, settling completely into the role of the captain of Team Gai. "Lee! Take Neji, run for the tower! This guy is definitely not normal! Tell whoever you meet there that theirs an infiltrator! Ten-chan! Make sure Lee gets there safely!"

"But what about you?"

Naruto turned to the grass nin again, and answered his girlfriend's question. "Someone's gotta make sure that this guy doesn't follow you, and I've got the best chance of surviving while doing it! NOW GO!" Galvanized into action, Lee picked Neji up and sprinted toward the center of the forest. Ten-Ten however, lingered a moment.

"Naruto-kun, if you die, I'll kill you!" With that, the bun-haired girl followed her male teammates.

Once the sound of branches cracking had faded away, Naruto spoke again. "So, Orochimaru, you gonna take off the mask?"

With a ripping sound, Orochimaru literally tore off his face. "Very good, Naruto-kun. How'd you know?"

"Well, history was actually good for something. The most infamous missing nins were in it. There was Uchiha Fuguku, and Orochimaru of the Sannin. And only Orochimaru knows **_Kanashibari no Jutsu _**(Temporary Body Paralysis Technique), and can use it to such great effect. So, I took what I knew, and I guessed. I was right, wasn't I?"

"Ku Ku Ku Ku…" Orochimaru chuckled. "So, Naruto-kun, shall we begin?"

"Let's."

The two combatants charged at each other, Naruto straight on with Orochimaru weaving all around like a snake. 'Let's test his Taijutsu first…' the Snake Sannin thought, and launched a punch. To his surprise, instead of another fist blocking it, his weak attack was stopped by an extremely high kick! The foot broke through the weak assault and landed a heavy blow on Orochimaru's face, the chakra enforced strike sending him skidding back a couple feet.

"Not bad, not bad at all." He said as he righted himself. But the moment he had been distracted, Naruto had withdrawn his three ninja tools: his bronze spear, a new silver spear, and Kouken, regular size.

"If you think that's good, you haven't seen anything yet." He said through a feral grin. "Kouken!" The faithful companion jumped onto his back, ready for action. But not alone, as a dozen centipedes crawled out of Naruto's shoulders, joining the dog. "**_Jujin Bunshin! _**(Man-Beast Clone)" he screamed, and the dog and insects on his back immediately turned into either feral Naruto clones (Kouken) or Naruto clones with shiny black exoskeletons (Centipedes).

Orochimaru watched, amused, as the clones entered an attacking formation, with one slot left open. That was soon remedied, as Naruto performed another series of handseals. "**_Naiteki Bunshin! _**(Inner Clone)" he cried, and an exact clone of Naruto popped out and entered the empty space, after flipping flipping Orochimaru off of course.

The next few minutes were full of dodging and counterstriking for the snake sannin. But after the dust cleared, only three Narutos were left: Naruto, Inner Naruto, and Kouken-Naruto. With another punch, Inner Naruto dissolved back into the real thing, leaving "A boy and his dog." Orochimaru said mockingly. "How touching!"

Naruto smiled. "You think so, do ya?" With that, 'Naruto' disappeared.

'A Kage Bunshin!' Orochimaru thought. 'Didn't expect that. But if he's gone, that means-' His thoughts were cut off when a voice behind him yelled "**_Sanshouuokaen! _**(Salamander Flame)". With barely any warning, the snake sannin dived forward to avoid the blistering heat that erupted out of Naruto's bronze spear.

Naruto grinned. Orochimaru was in the exact place he wanted him to be. He pointed his new, silver, spear at the snake. "**_Hekirekikyo! _**(Thunder Cry)" He shouted, and bolts of pure lightning shot forth, heading directly for Orochimaru.

His victorious grin faded when he saw the lightning impact- and disperse. Orochimaru convulsed and turned into a pile of mud. 'Damn! A **_Doro Bunshin _**(Mud Clone)!' he thought. 'Then where's the snake bastard? Byakugan! Nijigan!' His eyes turned pure white, with veins pulsing on both sides, then colored into pure orange. 'There!'

Naruto jumped, and not a moment too soon as another Fuuton jutsu ripped through the branch he had been standing on into pieces. 'Shit! Shit! Shit!' Naruto thought. 'Where's Kouken!' He scanned the forest quickly with his improved vision, and saw that his dog had turned back into his regular canine self as a result of Orochimaru's last attack. The dog was lying, unconscious, on the ground. 'SHIT! What else do I have!' Naruto thought frantically. 'Kouken's down, I won't be able to keep my eyes up for long, Inner Me is out for a while, he's moving too damn fast for a possession, he knows what my spears do now, I only got a few things left!' With that thought, A swarm of centipedes emerged, some assembling into Insect Clones, while others looked around for the snake-man.

"Ku ku ku… surely you can do better the that…" The creepy voice said, and Naruto ducked as another punch flew by. Naruto spun and drew back his arm.

"**_Hitosu! _**(Fire Toss)" He yelled, and launched a fireball at Orochimaru, which missed badly. With a thought, Naruto sprouted dragon wings, and launched back down to the ground. 'No choice,' Naruto thought. 'I only got one move left.'

Orochimaru landed in front of Naruto. "Come on, boy." He cooed. "It's time to finish this delightful fun!" He drew back his sleeve, and dragged a bloody thumb over the tattoo that was there. "**_Kuchyose no Jutsu! _**(Summoning Technique)" He cried, and a giant snake appeared under him. "Get him!" Orochimaru hissed.

But he stopped his snake when he saw Naruto going through the very same hand seals. "**_Kuchyose no Jutsu!_**" he screamed, and pounded his bloody thumb onto the earth. A gigantic plume of smoke arose, and Gin no Shainingu reared above the forest.

"What's going on, kid?" the great silver dragon asked.

"The usual." Naruto panted out. "Homicidal missing ninja out for my blood, fighting for my life."

"Some old, same old, huh." The dragon said dryly. With all the formalities done, Shainingu launched a series of ice spikes at Orochimaru and his snake. They both dodged with serpentine grace.

Down on his snake's head, Orochimaru was literally salivating. 'He's perfect… I'd best end this.' He stretched out, and touched the dragon's leg. One high powered Raiton jutsu later, Shainingu poofed back to the world of summons, and Naruto plummeted to the ground. The snake ninja dissipated his own summon, and caught the gennin as he fell.

'Time to stop him from doing anything else!' he thought, and charged chakra to his fingers. His long, long tongue moved Naruto's shirt and jacket out of the way, and he plunged his purple-glowing fingers into his stomach with a cry of "**_Goten Fuu! _**(Five Point Seal)". Naruto slumped in his grip, but maintained consciousness, a testament to his pure will and threshold for pain.

Orochimaru looked at him admiringly. He had been a good foe, for a gennin. He had actually made Orochimaru use five percent of his power! "Poor, Poor Naruto-kun…" The snake-sannin whispered into his ear. "You truly are a jack of all trades. Unfortunately, you are a master of none. You can see everywhere with those delightful eyes, but you've never pushed them to work harder. You rely on your blood, and you haven't even helped improve it. But that will change. That WILL change." Orochimaru bared his fangs, dripping some kind of poison. "Enjoy my little gift, Naruto-kun." With that, he sunk his fangs deep into the back of Naruto's neck.

The boy let out an agonized scream, and Orochimaru released his bite. The snake man looked at the mark he had left, and felt his jaw drop as the mark was formed. It resembled three black chain links, all arranged in a semi-circle. 'The Hell seal. Interesting.'

But the cursed seal had some adverse effects on Naruto. As the amazed snake sannin looked on, parts of Naruto began to glow white. The first was his stomach, where Orochimaru had just placed the Goten Fuu. It burned white, and disappeared. His arm was next, as every single seal holding his bloodlines back disintegrated, freeing them for the first time since he was six. Finally, the Yondaime's seal, the seal that imprisoned the demon Kyuubi, began to break. Well, part of it anyway. The central spiral burned white and shattered, leaving the rest intact. All the while, Naruto screamed in agony until his lungs ran out of air, when his scream turned silent.

The gennin fell over, writhing in pain. Orochimaru grinned at his prone form. "I'll see you around, Naruto-kun. I've got to go secure my backup plan." With a ripple of leaves, the snake man was gone.

A mile away and ten minutes later, Uchiha Sasuke was writhing in the exact same pain.

* * *

As Naruto fought the Snake Sannin, Lee was carrying a battered and bloodied Neji towards the tower, with a vigilant Ten-Ten scanning the surrounding forest. But as she watched the area, she knew that something was wrong. Minutes later, her suspicions were confirmed when she felt a huge chakra spike, and saw the towering silver head of Shainingu rear over the forest. "Faster, Lee!" she yelled. "It's getting serious if he's calling his dragons!" Lee didn't say anything, but redoubled his efforts at speed. 

As she watched, heart plummeting, Shainingu disappeared and a loud scream broke out. Ten-Ten started to go back, but was stopped when, surprisingly, Lee grabbed her arm. She spun to yell at him when Lee raised his hand. "Neji-kun won't last much longer. If you go back and save Naruto-kun, but Neji-kun dies, how do you think Naruto-kun would feel?" With that, he bounded back off. Cursing the spandex ninja for being right, Ten-Ten followed.

'Please be ok, Naruto-kun.' She thought.

* * *

"I swear I heard something!" Ino shouted. 

"That's what you said the last seven times, and there was nothing there either!" Shikamaru said, perhaps more energetically then anything he'd ever said before in his life.

As the two began to go back and forth again, Chouji snacked on another chip. As his eyes moved forward, he spotted something. The bag of chips fell from limp fingers. "GUYS!" he shouted, breaking up an argument.

"WHAT!" They screamed in unison. With shaking hands, Chouji pointed. When the two followed his finger, they saw a twitching, unconscious Naruto. Immediately, Ino sprinted to his side. After a quick scan, she yelled "Chouji! Pick him up! I'll grab his dog!"

Immediately, Chouji grabbed the prone ninja while Ino grabbed the similarly unconscious Kouken. "We'll carry him to the tower!" Ino shouted. 'We'll probably fail this exam, but we need him to survive!'

An hour later, Team Ten was exhausted, but almost to the tower. They landed in a clearing that was full of blood and dirt. "Umm… what happened here?" Chouji wondered out loud.

"Looks like a huge battle." Shikamaru said. "But…" he walked through the gore and picked up some objects: Two heaven scrolls. "Whoever was interested in this only wanted to kill. They didn't care about the scrolls at all!"

Ino shuddered. "Well, it doesn't matter. We can get in the tower now!" she said as she produced a heaven scroll. The team bounded off again, and soon found their way to the front of the tower. Waiting in front of it for them was the rest of Team Gai.

Ten-Ten squealed, and dove at Naruto. "What happened to him! Is he ok?" she babbled.

"He'll be fine," Ino growled. "No thanks to you! You just left him there, didn't you?"

Ten-Ten growled back. "He ordered us to leave, to save Neji's life, which it did! Learn everything before you jump to conclusions!" She backed off for a minute, still fuming. "Now if you'll excuse me, me and Lee have to go find a heaven scroll! They won't let us in to see Neji without one!" She turned around and prepared to jump. A call from Ino stopped her.

"Don't bother. We've got an extra." She produced it, and tossed it to Ten-Ten. Ten minutes later, they had completed the second exam. Naruto was shipped to an infirmary, where Ino, Ten-Ten, and a recently arrived Haku sat at his bedside. All of them had the same thoughts: 'Please be ok, Naruto-kun…'

* * *

But none of them knew what was going on inside Naruto. His head had become a literal battleground. On one side was a giant red snake, the mental manifestation of Orochimaru's curse seal. On the other, was the tiny dog that represented his mental connection with Kouken, the buzzing darkness that was his insects, and Inner Naruto. In the middle, there was the disoriented black shadow that had recently been unlocked, Naruto's unconscious mind itself, and a red and black cage that sealed Kyuubi no Kitsune. 

The snake snapped and bit at everything in reach, trying to get at Naruto's mind. If the snake bit it, it would be poisoned forever. But the shadow, as confused as it was, knew that that would be a bad thing, and formed a shield protecting Naruto. Meanwhile, directed by Inner Naruto, the insects and the dog were mounting a counter attack. "Go get the bastard!" Inner Naruto shouted, and the bugs and dog attacked in a two pronged assault.

While battle raged on in Naruto's subconscious, his mind was in a battle of a different sort. "You can have power," a dark seductive voice spoke. "All those who laughed at you would pay dearly, your shameful parents would love you, and-"

"My family loves me!" Naruto's mind fought back. "If they didn't, they wouldn't have taken care of me at all!"

"Yeah, if that's true, then why do they shunt you off on Ibiki, who only puts up with you because he's ordered? Why, before they gave you to Ibiki, did they pass you around from family to family like a servant? Why don't your real parents love you?"

"My real parents are dead! Otherwise, I'd be with them!"

"No, they're not dead, Naruto-kun. They just don't want you. They never did. They gave you up to the Yondaime willingly so he could put a demon in you, then went away and never came back, leaving a poor child to fend for himself until your 'family' came to get you!"

Naruto began to lose his momentum. Those were his darkest fears, told to him by someone else who guaranteed that they were true. But before he could give in, a deep voice spoke up. "**If you are going to have a huge debate about your life, do it when I'm not trying to sleep!**" With that, Naruto and the dark Naruto that was trying to corrupt him were separated, and sent back into the battlefield that was Naruto's mind.

Naruto appeared on one side, with the insects, dog, and Inner Persona. The Dark Naruto appeared next to the giant snake, and patted him as one would a puppy. The two faced off, and attacked.

* * *

A/N: Ok, start your pitchforks and torches. Half of you will be pissed that I gave him a cursed seal, but I've been planning it since the beginning, and to remove it would totally mess up my character developement. 

Oh, and so you guys know, I've been attacked by the plot bunnies as of later. The most recent one involves a Naruto/Bleach/YuYuHakusho crossover which leads to another Harem. I'll explain later.

See you in chapter 19: Prelims!


	19. Hajime!

A/N: Well, since so many good stories just updated, I figured it'd be pretty crappy of me not to do the same. This chapter covers the mind fight and the beginning of the third exam prelims. It's pretty short, for me.

Guys, remember to leave reviews! The more you review, the faster I'll update. Remember that!

* * *

Two near-identical Narutos met in pitched combat in the center of Naruto's mindscape. The sole difference in them was their eyes. The true Naruto had his usual violet, while the dark Naruto had a yellow, serpentine gaze. Violet met Yellow as they both drew back a fist.

Punches flew at each other, but neither connected as they bother dodged in opposite directions. Naruto rolled to the left while Dark Naruto rolled to the right. As they righted themselves, both of them flicked their wrists in unison. In answer, a spear flew into each hand. Both of them activated the power of their silver spear. "**_Hekirekikyo! _**(Thunder Cry)" they screamed in stereo, and identical silver lightning shot out, meeting in the middle. The charges canceled each other out, and the near-clones charged into close combat once again.

On the other side of Naruto's mindscape, Kouken, Inner Naruto, and the hive mind of his insects charged into combat with the gigantic red snake of the Curse Seal. With an angry buzz, the insects swarmed around to serpent, confusing and distracting it. As it snapped at the air, attempting to crush the irritating bugs, Inner Naruto channeled some chakra into Kouken.

The dog began to grow rapidly, and stopped when he was roughly the size of a horse. Inner Naruto vaulted onto his back, and yelled out, "CHARGE!" Galvanized into action, the dog rushed at the distracted snake head on! With a familiar flick of the wrist, Inner Naruto summoned the bronze spear, preparing to run the snake through.

With a spatter of blood and a squishing sound the spear penetrated deep into the snakes side. But with a toss of it's head, it bashed into the two, sending them flying! Kouken landed hard, with Inner Naruto managing a backflip in midair to land on his feet. "DAMN!" he screamed. "Naruto, my weapon's can't get deep enough! Any ideas!"

"KIND OF BUSY HERE!" Naruto yelled back as he parried another spear slash from his dark side. With a spin, he attempted to slash the stomach from his doppelganger, but it was blocked in kind. 'Shit! Shit! Shit!' He thought. 'We're too evenly matched! He knows everything I do, what I'm going to do next, and everything else!'

In a deeper, unctuous tone, Dark Naruto said, "Come on, Naruto. We're the same guy, you know. You should just let me in, and let me take over. By fighting me, you're only fighting yourself."

'That proves it: he knows how I fight, but he knows nothing about me!' Naruto thought with increased resolve. 'Wait a sec, he knows all the moves I've ever used in combat, but if he knew the one's I've never used in combat before, I'd be dead! There're some pretty nasty assassination jutsu's Kakashi-tou-san taught me that'd I've never actually used. If he could pull those off, he'd have killed me and taken my place already! Time to pull out what he thinks is my trump card!' As he thought that, he pulled up his mask and lava began to swirl around his foot.

"Oh," Dark Naruto said, and he pulled up an identical mask, while matching lava emerged around his own foot. "I was wondering how long it would take you to begin that!" The two charged, as both screamed "**_Kazanashi! _**(Volcano Foot)". Both flaming kicks met in midair, and once again canceled each other out.

They would have been back to an even footing if Naruto hadn't planned on this exact thing happening. The entire time he had been charging in to deliver the Kazanashi, he had been performing a series of one-handed seals behind his back! As soon as the lava disappeared, he swung out his hand, which was coated in brilliant white chakra! It slashed clear through the dark one's ribcage, leaving a gaping, bloody slash! While his blood fled from his body, Dark Naruto stared down at the gouge that had been opened up. "W-What! You've never used that!"

"Oh, I know. But I also knew the **_Shiro Gunno _**(White Force Field), the ultimate technique of Hatake Sakumo, the white fang! I do believe I'm one of two people still alive who can pull it off, but it can only be used to kill someone, which I've never really wanted to do. But for you, I'll make an exception." He drew back his white-glowing hand, and swung it down.

But the dark one jumped back, avoiding the finishing blow even though he was clutching his gushing gut. "You may have won this round, but I will come back. You have to lower your guard sometime, and when you do, I will destroy you!" With a shimmer and a cloud of sparkles, he faded away.

Over at the giant snake fight, Inner Naruto glanced at the dissipating Dark Naruto. 'Wow, it's crowded in here.' He thought. Then his eyes fell on Naruto's hand, which was still glowing bright white. 'That's it! Kakashi-tou-san's jutsus!' With that thought, he jumped back, and went through a series of hand seals. Clutching his left wrist, a blue, crackling aura emerged around his hand! "Time to see how you stand up to Kakashi-tou-san's original attack! **_Chidori! _**(Thousand Birds)"

With a sudden burst of speed, he reappeared right in front of the evil serpent. With a thrust, his lightning-covered hand burst through the snake's skull. "HAH!" he yelled. The snake hissed in agony, and snarled out its death rattle. Inner Naruto, the Insects, and Kouken jumped back, avoiding it's thrashing.

"Umm… Shouldn't it be dead now?" Inner Naruto asked.

Naruto, walking up behind him, shook his head. "And I thought you were supposed to be the smark one in this relationship. Dying snakes continue to move around for at least a few days after the finishing blow is struck." The two stared at the thrashing carcass.

"I think that's a problem." Inner Naruto stated. "I mean, that's basically a huge chakra abnormality moving with no pattern, inside your mindscape, which is the mental representation of your chakra."

Naruto pondered that for a moment. "So, basically, my control sucks now. Right?"

"Dead on. But now, I think you should-"

* * *

"WAKE UP!"

With a start, Naruto sat up. He looked around wildly, looking for Orochimaru or anyone who seemed the least bit hostile. But instead of seeing the foliage of the Forest of Death or the grey waste of his mindscape, he saw a brown-and-green room. And instead of Orochimaru, he saw his team, his sensei, Ino, Haku, Kouken, and Zabuza gathered around him. Of course, his team included Ten-Ten, who had taken it upon herself to grab him by the shirt and begin shaking him. "WAKE UP, DAMN YOU!" she was screaming.

"Um… Ten-Ten," Neji said. "I'm pretty sure he's awake." Ten-Ten paused in her shaking, looked at the conscious (but slightly dizzy) Naruto, and immediately latched onto him.

"DON'T EVER SCARE ME LIKE THAT AGAIN! YOU HEAR ME!"

"Um… Ten-chan? I'm pretty sure everyone heard you." Naruto gasped out, fighting for air against the firm grip Ten-Ten had around his neck. As soon as he spoke, his fight got three times as hard, as Ino and Haku joined Ten-Ten in hugging him tightly. "Can't….. Breathe!" Naruto gasped out. He looked at the blonde, brunette, and black haired girls attached to him, all with relief on their faces. 'Breathing is overrated.'

Fortunately (or Unfortunately depending on your point of view), someone else decided that Naruto needed to breathe. Zabuza hauled Haku off, while Gai did the same to Ten-Ten. Finally, between the two of them, Lee and Neji managed to remove Ino. Zabuza looked over at his young nephew. "Ok, good to see you awake, I'll ask what happened later, we'll do some tests, but the reason little miss bun-hair decided to shake you was the third exam starts in ten minutes, and you've gotta get down there!"

Naruto digested that for a moment, then exploded into a whirlwind of motion. In less then twenty seconds, he was up, dressed, had all his weapons back in their correct places, and was ready to go. "Someone show me where to go!" he gasped. Quickly, the occupants of the room sprinted down a couple flights of stairs, leading to a chamber where the rest of the gennin had gathered. Gai, Zabuza, and Haku disappeared in puffs of smoke, and Ino ran off to join her team, leaving Team Gai (and a dog) alone.

"The nerve of you!" Ten-Ten hissed under her breath. "Sending us off to heal someone while you engaged an S-class missing nin! How smart! You bloody twit!" Naruto held up a hand to stop her rant.

"How did you know I fought an S-class missing nin?"

"People told us where the mark on the back of your neck came from!"

Naruto's response was cut off by the giant doors in front of them opening. The gennin shuffled into the room, and Naruto took the opportunity to scan the crowd. 'Hmmm… Well, there's Team 7, Team 8, Team 10, Sand, Sound, and those guys who all wear glasses. There're twenty-two of us. I wonder if that's good.'

As soon as they were all within the room, the doors swung shut. Naruto surveyed the room they had all entered. It was a plain, flat floor with a giant statue looming over it. There was also a raised area all around the floor, with each spot giving the person standing in it the complete view of the room. Naruto felt a sinking sensation in his gut. 'DAMN!' he thought, as the Hokage stood up to give a speech.

'_What's the problem?'_

'We're going to have to do some fighting now! And my chakra control's shot, thanks to that damn snake!'

'_Well, we'll try and fix that._' Inner Naruto responded, and Naruto 'heard' his inner self moving to intercept the still-thrashing carcass of the serpent. Naruto listened to the sounds of fighting inside his head, wondering (not for the first time) if he was crazy. As he listened, Ten-Ten elbowed him. "What?" he asked.

"Speech is over, single elimination fights for the third round prelims. Lot's of crap about politics. Get up to the viewing area while the first fight is announced." She summed up. Naruto nodded, and thought 'Hurry it up, and tell me how much you've got accomplished when you have something done!' He felt the metal equivalent of a nod coming from Inner Naruto.

A sickly Jounin who Naruto hadn't seen arrive but recognized from around had appeared. Gekkou Hyate said, "This is the electronic random board. It will decide who you fight, and who gets the by this round." Naruto looked around randomly. Sure enough, there were twenty-one people here. Taking a headcount, he saw that the creepy guy with the nin-info cards had disappeared. 'Pansy'. He thought. The board started beeping, names began flashing as it selected the first fight. With a clank, the names stopped moving, showing:

**Rock Lee vs. Akimichi Chouji**

As Lee and Chouji moved down to the middle of the arena, all of the Konoha Jounin Sensei's met in a group. It was a tradition at the prelims of the third round to start taking bets, and this year was no exception. "10,000 yen on Lee." Gai said in an unusually serious tone.

"15,000 on Chouji." Asuma replied.

Kurenai and Kakashi exchanged glances. "5,000 on Lee." They said in unison. Asuma looked hurt.

"Does no one believe in my pupil?" he asked dramatically.

Kurenai stared at him. In a flat tone, she said, "At your training sessions, you play Go with Shikamaru, while Chouji eats and Ino goes off to train with Ten-Ten. Out of all of them, I think Ino's the best prepared."

As they placed their bets, Chouji and Lee faced off in the center of the room. "YOSH!" Lee shouted. "My youthful exuberance shall carry me to victory! Afterwards, you should join me in running one hundred laps around Konoha! That should help remove some of the unyouthful calories from you!"

Chouji took a minute to digest what Lee had just said. "… Huh?"

"I was saying that all of the youthful food you consume turns into un-hip poundage, and weighs down your youthful frame!"

THAT, Chouji understood. "I AM NOT FAT!" He screamed. "I'M BIG BONED!"

Seeing that this was rapidly deteriorating, Hayate yelled "First fight! Rock Lee vs. Akimichi Choji! Hajime!" and jumped out of the way. Not a moment too soon, as Chouji was extremely pissed.

"I'M GONNA SQUASH YOU!" Chouji screamed. "**_Baika no Jutsu! _**(Multisize Technique!)" With that, Chouji swelled like a blimp, towering over the far-smaller Lee. "Followed by **_Nikudan Sensha! _**(Human Bullet Tank)" Chouji retracted his arms, legs, and head into his oversized body, and rushed at Lee!

"Our exercise session has begun already!" Lee squealed in joy. With that, he began to run infront of Chouji, constantly yelling encouragement behind him. "Your flames of youth are rising, Chouji-kun!"

The assembled Gennin, Jounin, and Hokage were watching Lee run around in circles, with the giant Chouji rolling afterwards. The Sand Jounin, Baki said, "Is the green one toying with the fat one, or is he just stupid?"

"HA! Your weight shrinks as we roll! As the fat lowers, your youth rises!"

"… Well, that answers that." Baki finished. The gennin of Team Gai watched with dumb disbelief as Lee continued to run as if he was filming an exercise video.

"Come on!" Lee yelled. "You can do it!"

Naruto smacked his forehead. "LEE!" he shouted. "Kick the crap out of him, THEN do exercise!"

Lee looked up. "Whatever you say, Teichou!" Then, in a blink, it was over as Lee spun and delivered a roundhouse kick to the ball that was Chouji. The sheer force of the blow sent the hefty gennin hurtling into the wall. A crash and a small rockslide later, Chouji was staring up at the sky in his usual form.

"My…" he said to himself, but loudly enough for everyone to hear. "What pretty colors!"

Hayate blinked, then shook his head, clearing it from the Lee-induced stupor. "Winner: Rock Lee!" Lee whooped, and jumped back up to his team. Every single person in the arena stared at him.

He looked back. "What?"

The beeping of the selection board broke the silence, and everyone stared up at the rapidly flashing screen. Breath was held, hearts pumped quickly, and the board stopped.

**Hyuuga Hanabi vs. Misumi Tsurugi**

As Hanabi and one of the glasses-wearing-group decended, the Konoha Jounin gathered around Hayate, who they decided would be their bookie. Hayate, no stranger to this situation, said "I'll cough give you 3 to 1 odds on Misumi and 1 to 1 odds on Hyuuga." Everyone found this acceptable, and placed their bets. Naruto walked over.

"Can anyone bet, or is this a closed pot?" He asked. Hayate shrugged, and Naruto pulled out some money. "I'll bet 30,000 on Hanabi ending the fight in under thirty seconds." Hayate made a little note on a pad, they turned to the field. "Second Fight! Hyuuga Hanabi vs. Misumi Tsurugi! HAJIME!"

Naruto was quickly proved a prophet. Misumi charged in, intending to utterly crush Hanabi. A quick palm strike to the chest convinced him otherwise, followed by Hanabi sweeping his legs out from under him and placing a blue-glowing palm right above his forehead. "Forfeit." She said in her 'public' voice. "You won't get a second chance."

Misumi swallowed deeply. "I forfeit!" he shouted. Up at the viewing stands, Naruto collected his hard-earned (or won) cash.

"Good job, Hanabi-chan!" he yelled as he collected. "You just won me a new set of shuriken!"

"Thank you, Naruto-sama." She said calmly with a small bow, not showing a trace of the intense laughter she was fighting when she heard Naruto grind his teeth.

Everyone was once again distracted by the familiar beeping, and they looked up at the board as it flashed through names. After many beeps, it stopped:

**Abumi Zaku vs. Uzumaki Naruto

* * *

A/N: Well, sorry for the cliffy, but that's as far as chap 19 goes! Stay tuned for chapter 20, and the rest of the third exam!**

Oh, and because I haven't done one of these recently, it's time for a poll!

Who will be the next girl in the harem, Temari or Kin? Place your votes now!


	20. Four for Fighting

A/N: I am so, soooo sorry about the lateness of this update. I could give you a whole list of convoluted reasons why, but the short of it is this: New Girlfriend, New Job, School getting harder, First Foray into Original Fiction, New Game (GO DOT HACK!!!), Anime, books, and a whole bunch of other crap.

Also, my muse was kidnapped and held, tied up in a basement for weeks. He just escaped yesterday.

Happy Belated Halloween everybody!

Now, for a moment of silence. RIP Sarutobi Asuma, AKA Chain-smoking-sensei. I did like him.

Thank you! Check the bottom authors note for an important message!

* * *

As Naruto looked at the board, he sent a quick question to his inner self. 'Hey, how much chakra do you have secure?' The response he got was quick. 

'_You've got about enough for two Kazanashis. Anymore, and you'll lose control of your chakra, and YOU DON'T WANT THAT TO HAPPEN!!!_' Inner Naruto yelled. Naruto agreed. If he lost control of his chakra, he was likely to blow himself up, along with about five miles of Konoha.

Shaking his head, he brought himself back to reality. Looking at the Jounin (already placing bets), he said "Well, see you later." With that, he leaped down to the floor to face a smirking Zaku.

Back on the balcony, every single Jounin sensei had gathered around Hayate, even the disguised Orochimaru. Hayate, knowing Naruto and knowing nothing about Zaku, said "I'll give you 4 to 1 odds on Zaku, and even odds on Naruto." Bets were placed, with every single Konoha Jounin betting on Naruto, the sand Jounin on Zaku, and, in a huge surprise, the Sound Jounin laying a huge wager on Naruto.

Down on the floor, the smirking sound nin stared at his opponent. "You should just forfeit, wuss-ass. There's not a single leaf weakling that can stand up to me."

Naruto, using the lessons in intimidation taught by his scarred caretaker, cracked his neck. He was rewarded by a slight flinch coming from Zaku. "If you were smart, you'd give now and go ask your partner for some fashion advise. You'd look so much better wrapped up in bandages. I'll have to help with that." With that, he dropped into his fighting crouch.

Hayate raised his hand. "Third Fight: Abumi Zaku vs. Uzumaki Naruto! HAJIME!"

Zaku wasted no time, and raised his hands. Focusing his chakra on his palms, the tubes embedded in them began to whistle. "**_Zankuha! _**(Decapitating Air Waves)" he screamed, and a huge gust of wind flew out of his palms. Naruto cursed, and ducked out of the way. The wind connected with the wall, and took a huge chunk out of it.

'SHIT!' Naruto thought. 'Definitely not the opponent I want to fight at quarter power! Now, what to do about the deadly gusts of air?' he asked himself, as he dodged another one. 'I could just blast him with a couple of high-powered Katon Jutsus, or maybe a few Doton ones, but that'd knock me out for a few hours, and I want to see the rest of the fights!'

Zaku smirked, his confidence returning at Naruto's shaky dodging. "Come on! I thought you were supposed to be this villages prodigy, and you're barely moving fast enough to dodge! You can do better then that!"

'He's right!' Naruto planned. 'I can do better! All I gotta do is have Kouken sneak up behind him while I distract him. Then I'll take em out! But-'

"_You truly are a jack of all trades. Unfortunately, you are a master of none. You can see everywhere with those delightful eyes, but you've never pushed them to work harder. You rely on your blood, and you haven't even helped improve it. But that will change. That WILL change." Orochimaru bared his fangs, dripping some kind of poison. "Enjoy my little gift, Naruto-kun."_

'NO!' he thought. 'I will work harder, and not rely on my blood, if only to prove him wrong!' His anger died down a little, as he realized 'But what can I do? My bloodlines are most of my low power techniques! But I can do one thing!' He moved his hands in a specific sequence. "**_Kage Bunshin no Jutsu! _**(Shadow Clone Technique)" he yelled, and three clones appeared next to him in a cloud of smoke.

Quickly, Zaku changed his game plan. He spread his hands, and aimed each one at a clone. "**_Zankuha!_**" he yelled again, and two smaller wind gusts flew out, each one taking the head off of a clone, with the remainder disappearing in smoke. Grinning, Zaku aimed at Naruto and his last clone, who were conveniently lined for him to shoot. "Bye-Bye!" he said, then fired. The Zankuha blasted straight through the two Narutos- and poofed into smoke. "What?!"

There was a prod to the base of his neck, and Zaku froze. "What?" Naruto said. "You didn't notice the fourth clone and a **_Kawarimi no Jutsu _**(Substitution Technique)? Too bad. You've got one chance to give up before I attack."

Zaku sneered. "I never give up."

Naruto grinned back. "I respect that." With a lightning fast maneuver, he curled his index finger behind his thumb, and channeled all of the chakra he could spare into it. "**_Meiun no Furi-ku! _**(Flick of doom)" he yelled, and released his finger. The blast shot Zaku across the arena floor, directly into the wall. The sound gennin fell backwards, unconscious.

Quickly, Hayate appeared next to Zaku, and checked. Quickly, he stood up. "Winner: Uzumaki Naruto!"

A pair of golden-brown eyes looked down at the scene in shock. 'That brat stole my gimmick!' the owner thought.

The sound Jounin licked his lips. 'Definitely the best choice, ku ku ku. He didn't use any of those delicious bloodlines, and he defeated his opponent without tapping into the power of my gift… that will make things difficult.'

Oblivious to any thoughts anyone was having about him, Naruto staggered up the stairs. 'I must have miscalculated on the amount of chakra.' He thought. Inner Naruto, ever sympathetic, responded with '_Gee, do you think?!' _

Once he got up the stairs, he was quickly deprived of his footing, but not by unconsciousness. No, he was tackled by Ino. "YOU'RE ALIVE!" She shrieked.

Naruto came up with a witty and intelligent response: "Gee, do you think?" Ino turned bright red, and jumped away like she had touched a red-hot piece of steel.

"Er, I mean, good job." She said. Naruto grinned.

"Thanks a lot Ino." He said. "Now, I've gotta go sit down for a while."

As Naruto took his seat, the board began beeping again, stopping on the participants of the fourth fight:

**Uchiha Sasuke vs Akado Youri**

Sasuke and the last member of the glasses gang went down to the floor. As they squared off, Naruto was distracted by a tap on the shoulder. He looked up to see a woman standing there. But this wasn't just any woman. This woman had shoulder length blonde hair, piercing brown eyes and… was massively endowed. "Excuse me," she said in an annoyed voice. "But what the hell are you doing, stealing my gimmick?!"

"Your gimmick, lady?! I don't know who the hell you are, but that was all original!"

"Why you little brat! I'm Tsunade of the Sannin, and the whole 'flicking-finishing-technique' is my thing!"

Naruto was taken aback. "B-but… that makes you an old hag!"

"WHY YOU LITTLE-" she squawked, and reached for Naruto's throat. A throat clearing from off to the side stopped her.

"Excuse me, Tsunade-chan," the third said. "You're distracting the fighters." Sure enough, every single person in the room was staring at the seemingly 26-year-old woman reaching to strangle the 16 year old boy. Tsunade turned bright red, and hastily drew her hands back.

While the lady was distracted, Naruto was thinking. "Wait a sec, don't you hate Konoha? Why are you here again?"

Immediately, Tsunade's mood took a skydive. "That's none of your business, brat." She shook her head, as if to clear it. "But anyway, you've got potential. You want to learn from me?"

Naruto cocked his head to one side, thinking. "What could you teach me?"

"You interested in healing?" In answer, Naruto drew a kunai and cut his palm. Immediately, the shallow scratch faded away into nothingness. "I'll take that as a no, but I'll teach you some anyway in case you need it. How about slug summoning?"

Naruto laughed a little. "Slugs maybe different, and I might want to summon them later, but right now, I've got dragons! I think they're a little better."

Tsunade sighed. A spark from this boy drew her, like a spark from her apprentice, Shizune, had drawn her before. It was time for the big guns. "I'll teach you healing, let you sign my slug contract, and teach you to do this." She tapped the wall, and immediately, a large chunk fell out.

Naruto's eyes grew wide. "Deal." He said. "After the tournament." Tsunade smirked, and nodded. A few feet away, Ten-Ten stared at the woman.

'Oh my god, Naruto's gonna be trained by Tsunade-sama! Oh my god, Oh my god, Oh my god, Oh my god!!!!!' Without further hesitation, she fairly flew across the ground towards Naruto, and latched onto him once again. "Naruto-kun, you've gotta introduce me to Tsunade-sama! Come on!" Without waiting for a response, she flew over to her idol. "Hi, Tsunade-sama? I'm Shinkotama Ten-Ten, Naruto-kun's girlfriend, and I'm your biggest fan! Can you train me to? Huh? Huh?"

Tsunade backed up, drops of sweat appearing on her forehead. 'If she's this brat's girlfriend, a flat-out refusal will piss him off, and I really want to train him. Time to do what I do best: make something up.' "Oh, I'm sorry, Ten-Ten was it? But I only take on one apprentice at a time. Maybe you can train with my last apprentice, Shizune?"

Ten-Ten grinned. "Whatever you say, Tsunade-sama!" She fairly danced with anticipation.

Naruto felt some sweat come up that had nothing to do with his last fight. 'So that's what a Ten-chan fan girl acts like… there're some things I just don't want to see.' Naruto was dragged out of his contemplations by a loud cry of "**_Shi Shi Rendan! _**(Lion Combo)"

The gennin quickly looked out at the arena, just in time to see Sasuke drive his heel into Yoroi's head. "What just happened?" he asked the person next to him, who happened to be Hanabi.

"Did you know that a few weeks ago, Sasuke-san got into a fight with Lee-kun?" she asked him. He shook his head, and Hanabi said, "They fought, and Sasuke copied part of his technique. He just adapted it to defeat the strange sucker-guy." She said, the added as an afterthought, "Naruto-sama."

To tired to be pissed off at the customary jab, he sat back down. Inside his head, he heard '_Finally!_'. 'What?' he asked. '_Oh, the damn snake corpse stopped thrashing. You should be getting your control back soon, and free reign of your chakra once again._' Naruto nodded, and looked up as the board started flashing again.

The board stopped, and everyone stared at the two participants.

**Sabaku no Temari vs. Haruno Sakura**

The pink-haired girl looked at the blonde fan user. 'I can't do this!' she thought. 'I don't know nearly enough to defeat her!' Normally, Inner Sakura would be raging at her to get in there, but even the normally vocal manifestation was quieted by the fear that Temari was causing. As if reading her mind, the blonde smirked, and cracked her knuckles. Immediately, Sakura's hand was in the air. "I give up!" she yelped.

Temari smirked once more. "Weakling." She muttered. Sakura looked around, to see the rest of the Konoha gennin's reactions. Most were indifferent, wondering if they would have done the same. Sasuke was nowhere to be seen, so she didn't know what he thought. Hinata shrugged, and patted the pink-haired girl's shoulder. Then she looked at Naruto, who had just been able to get to his feet. The look in his eyes shocked her.

Disappointment. Plain and simple. Pure, and profound disappointment. He was disappointed in her, had thought she could do better. And even if she had lost, she should have fought. All that was conveyed in the look his purple eyes gave her. Sakura tried to shrug it off, but it hurt. Naruto was just a casual acquaintance, someone she said hello to every now and then. What he thought shouldn't matter to her whatsoever.

But it did. 'Why does it hurt so much?' Sakura asked herself. Inner Sakura replied with a snort.

"Winner: Sabaku no Temari!" Hayate announced. The board quickly started beeping once again. With half of the matches completed, it stopped much quicker this time.

**Inuzuka Kiba vs. Shinotama Ten-Ten**

Without pause, Ten-Ten leapt down into the arena. Kiba, meanwhile, sauntered down, Akamaru riding on his head. He wasted no time in beginning the standard pre-match insults. "Look, Akamaru, it's Naruto's bitch. I think you'd better sit this one out. We don't want to hurt her too badly." Akamaru let out a bark that sounded suspiciously like a chuckle, then trotted off to the side.

Paying no attention to Kiba's rantings, Ten-Ten reached into her sleeve, and withdrew a scroll. With a quick nip to the thumb, Ten-Ten spread her blood across one of the symbols. With a plume of smoke, a pre-loaded blowgun appeared in her hand. She gave it an experimental twirl, and stowed the scroll away.

Kiba, seeing his taunts were getting him nowhere, settled into a fighting crouch. "Let's do this!" he barked. Ten-Ten smirked.

"Yes, lets."

Hayate, finished with his bet collecting, raised his hand. "Sixth Fight: Inuzuka Kiba vs. Shinkotama Ten-Ten! HAJIME!"

Ten-Ten's first move was no surprise. She aimed her blowgun and fired. But what was the surprise was where she aimed. The dart flew out, and connected squarely with Akamaru's back. With a whimper, the dog went down, fast asleep.

"W-what'd you do that for!?" Kiba exclaimed, shocked at the shot at his dog.

"He was going to be called in shortly anyway. I just had to stop it before it happened." She responded, and dropped the blowgun. Then, with a lightning-fast movement, she conjured a katana and drew. "En Guard!"

That was the only warning Kiba got as Ten-Ten charged. With reflexes born of desperation, he evaded the initial slash. But before he could think of counterattacking, another one whistled in, which he hastily avoided as well. Ten-Ten unleashed slash after slash, but Kiba dodged each and every one of them.

'What the hell am I going to do now?!' Kiba thought as he dodged. But the thought distracted him, and he tripped. Kiba panicked, and reached for the closest thing to him: Ten-Ten's discarded blowgun. He grinned, and picked it up, then used it to block an incoming slash. He didn't see the ghost of a smirk that crossed Ten-Ten's beautiful face.

With a quick lurch, Ten-Ten grabbed hold of the blowgun. Kiba noticed her grin, but it was too late. She channeled some chakra into the weapon, and cried "Self-Destruct!" The weapon heeded her command, and blew up in a cloud of purple gas. Kiba, with his immensely powerful senses, caught a big wiff of the gas before he managed to get away. Ten-Ten, meanwhile, calmly walked away from the cloud.

Kiba looked at the girl, and prepared to keep fighting, but he felt his eyelids grow heavy. His movements became sluggish and slow. "What'd you do to me?" he asked in a voice heavy with slumber.

Ten-Ten's chipper voice sung out. "Sleeping gas attuned to my chakra, so it affects everyone that's not me. And you got a big breath of it, and the very scent is enough to put most people out. You with your hypersenses... You'll be out for a while. Have a good snooze, dog-breath." With that, Kiba fell sound asleep.

Hayate jumped down, and checked on both boy and dog. "Winner: Shinkotama Ten-Ten!"

Ten-Ten jumped back up quickly, and was greeted by an enthusiastic Naruto. "Good job, Ten-chan!" he said as he hugged her tightly. For once, the strong woman relaxed, and just allowed herself to be held.

Their moment was interrupted by the now familiar beeping. When they looked up, the next match had already been decided. Naruto felt the blood drain from his face.

**Hyuuga Neji vs. Sabaku no Gaara**

**

* * *

**

A/N: Sorry about the major cliffhanger, but I couldn't resist. I'll do my best to update quickly, but I make no promises. 

Now, I promised you a huge announcement didn't I. It is this: All for One has been nominated for a Naruto Fanfiction Award, in the catagory of Best Alternate Reality! Someone get over there and second it, and then start voting, whenever voting starts! Thank you!

The website is http(colon slash slash)nfa(dot)narutofic(dot)org(slash)nominees(dot)php. I hate that won't let me paste links! Look on the list. You'll find me.

Oh, and before I forget, the poll was decided by a single vote! You'll find out who won next time.


	21. End of the Prelims

A/N: Well, this is the spot I usually apologize profusely for not updating in over a month. Sorry, I wanted to give you this by Thanksgiving at the latest, but I couldn't get it done. I was at WWE Survivor Series on Sunday (AWESOME!). I just wanted to say that.

This chapter turned out well, I think. The Neji-Gaara fight scene is my best one, though I still stink at them.

On my final note (until the bottom), the NFA's are still going on. Right now, All for One is currently very secure in fourth place. But I'd love it if you guys who haven't voted yet would get over there. It's www(dot)narutofic(dot)org, then scroll down untill you see the huge word that says VOTE. Thank you.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, or anything else I might reference. I also have 33 cents to my name, and would not be a good lawsuit target.

* * *

**Hyuuga Neji vs. Sabaku no Gaara**

Naruto felt the blood drain from his face at the announcement of the next match. As he tried to comprehend what his friend was going to face, he heard Neji's voice behind him. "Well, that's unfortunate. But that's the luck of the draw." The Hyuuga spoke, and prepared to leap down into the pit.

But he was restrained by a hand on his shoulder. He spun to see Naruto looking at him with the most worried expression he'd ever seen. "You don't have to do this, you know. You can withdraw, not fight that psychopath, and no one will think any less of you."

Neji raised an eyebrow. "Is Naruto, the most stubborn and persistent ninja I've ever known, counseling me to give up?" At the suddenly guilty look on Naruto's face, the Hyuuga prodigy let out a sigh. "Listen, Captain, Gai-sensei, Hizashi-tou-san, and even you, have always told me to never surrender, even against overwhelming odds. And if I did now, that'd make you a pretty crappy teacher." Taken aback by Neji's response, Naruto let go. With a smile, the prodigy leapt down into the ring, where the foe from Suna awaited him.

"So, you're braver then I gave you credit for." Gaara said in a calm monotone.

"I get that a lot." Neji said with a smirk, and with a thought, his Byakugan activated.

Hayate jumped up to the balcony, and yelled "Seventh Fight: Hyuuga Neji vs. Sabaku no Gaara! HAJIME!"

Neji wasted no time. As Hayate's cry echoed throughout the room, he darted towards the stationary sand gennin. He drew back his hand, already glowing with blue chakra, as he prepared to unleash a palm strike.

But his plans were put on hold as a brown, grainy wall sprung into existence before him. The chakra-charged palm bounced off of the sand to no affect! 'Well... That was surprising.' The calm Hyuuga Neji thought. 'Come to think of it, it really shouldn't be. He's Gaara of the DESERT! Desert, as in full of sand. No one else has used sand as a weapon, so why not him? But I bet he can only conjure the stuff in front of him.' With a quick seal, he teleported behind the still-stationary Gaara.

Another palm strike, and another wall of sand, proved that theory wrong. 'What, does he have eyes in the back of his head or something?! Time for the aerial approach.' Another seal, and a silent thanks to Gai-sensei for teaching him the quick-transport jutsu, Neji appeared directly above Gaara.

A strong kick later, Neji was disabused of the thought that attacks from above would work. Forcefully disabused, actually, as the sand rose to make a perfect dome above Gaara, which quickly grew spikes. The now bleeding Hyuuga prodigy quickly jumped off, and landed in his starting position.

'Well, the sand seems to be a perfect defense.' Neji thought. 'Time to take em off.' Quickly, Neji crossed his arms over his chest, and yelled "KAI!" A blue aura of chakra appeared around his wrists, and quickly shattered. When the aura disappeared, a pair of small wristbands fell off.

Up in the spectator stands, Naruto smiled. 'Let's see how fast you got with the weights off.'

With another dash, Neji charged the still-stationary Gaara. A palm lashed out, much quicker then it had before. But it still was blocked by the edge of the sand shield. With an unusual cry of frustration, Neji lashed out with both hands, and his feet. "GET HIT ALREADY!" he yelled, and cocked back another strike.

A sudden blast of sand sent him reeling back. Gaara grinned a creepy half-smile. "… Are you finished?" he asked.

Neji fought his way to his feet. "Not even close."

Gaara smiled a full-blown sadistic smile. "I'll have to change your answer. Yes, you're finished." With that, jets of sand began blasting out of the floor.

'What the hell?!' Neji screamed mentally. Out loud, he contented himself with yelling "SHIT! SHIT! SHIT! SHIT!"

Ignoring the sandy death that Neji was narrowly avoiding, Team Gai was gaping. Naruto decided to say what they were all thinking. "Well, I guess that settles that fact that he knows how to curse."

Neji landed gently on his injured foot. 'Damn! He's got great offense, great defense, and I'm already wounded from my failed aerial assault! What am I going to do?!' As he thought, he took his attention off of the homicidal sand nin for one minute, and that one minute turned out to be a mistake.

The sand shot up directly under him, capturing him in it's tight, gritty grip. "FUCK!" he got out. He barely heard Gaara say "**_Sabaku Kyu_! **(Desert Coffin)".

The sadistic ninja grinned, and clenched his hand. "**_Sabaku Soso_! **(Desert Funeral)" he stated, and the sand surrounding Neji began to tighten. The entire audience looked on, some in bored acceptance (Kankurou), some in eager anticipation (Dosu), and the vast majority in horrified shock.

Naruto was panicking. 'Gotta help him somehow, gotta keep him from dying, but I'm outta chakra I can use right now! How can I help?!' Then inspiration hit him. Neji had been talking about a move he wanted to try a few days before the exams, but wasn't sure if it'd work or not. As the calm genius, he wanted everything sure of before he attempted the new technique. But with choices between death and an unstable technique, Naruto was pretty sure he'd go with the latter. "NEJI!" he screamed, drawing the fading Hyuuga's attention to him. "USE IT!"

If Neji could have smiled, he would have. In the heat of the battle, he'd completely forgotten about the technique he'd been trying to master days before. He'd only actually told one person about it. It was time to do something Hyuuga Nehi tried his best to avoid doing: take a risk. Gathering his chakra inside of him, he began to seal-less jutsu.

Everyone gaped as the sand caccoon blasted apart. Even Gaara felt his mouth drop open (just a little) when Neji emerged, surrounded by a blue whirlwind of chakra. Panting, Neji managed to utter "**_Kaiten! _**(Whirl)".

Up in the stands, Hinata gaped. "He's got it! He's got it!" she exclaimed. At the questioning looks some of her fellow spectators gave her, she hastily explained. "Kaiten, the whirl, better known as the Heavenly Spin. It's an absolute defense usable only by extremely powerful members of the Hyuuga clan. You have to emit chakra from every tenketsu in your body, and then use have it spin rapidly. It's reportedly very hard to do, and only three people in the entire clan today have managed to perform it. Well, four now."

Neji smiled at his cousin's summary. "Very good, Hinata-sama. But you also create a mini-kaiten around certain parts of your body, like THIS!" As the words left his mouth, he charged once more at Gaara. Confident of his sands power to block anything, Gaara didn't move an inch.

But another blue nimbus surrounded one of Neji's hands, and he shot forward with another open palm strike. A palm strike, surrounded by a mini-kaiten, was just what was needed to break through Gaara's thin wall of sand and contact the chest of the sand nin. Or, what Neji thought was his chest.

Gaara went reeling back, clutching at his chest. But small fragments of sand fell off of it instead of blood, with Gaara smiling a demonic grin the entire time. "W-What the hell!" Ino shouted out. "That hit him! What the hell is that?!"

"**_Suna no Yoroi_**." Kankurou breathed out. "The second stage of Gaara's absolute defense. He compacts sand around himself like a second skin, making him completely invulnerable to physical attacks. But that should be the least of your friend's worries right now."

"Why would that be?" Lee asked, unusually serious.

"Now he has Gaara's full, undivided attention. If you fight Gaara, he'll kill you. But if you fight Gaara and hit him, he'll make you wish you were dead a thousand times before he actually finishes the job."

"You're fun, Hyuuga Neji! Mother will love to taste your blood after all!" Gaara exclaimed with that creepy grin on his face. He raised his hands, and brought them down. "**_Suna Shigure! _**(Sand Drizzle)" he screamed, and spears of sand flew out of thin air, aimed directly at Neji.

As the spears fell, Neji smirked. 'So Hiashi-sama's dancing lessons were good for something after all.' He thought, and began a graceful dance. A pirouette to the side dodged quite a few spears, as Neji twisted and turned in between the death from above. The sand stopped, but the Hyuuga continued his dancing.

As he danced in a defensive pattern drilled into him by the Hyuuga elders so many times he didn't even have to think of it anymore, Neji pondered a plan. 'I've got to hit him with a blow so powerful it crashes through both layers of defense. But the only thing that's hit him so far is my demi-kaiten, and that's only gotten through the first layer. … That's what I'll have to do. Damn, Naruto's rubbing off on me. This is his kind of plan. I've got to get this right the first time, because I won't get a second chance.' With that, he stopped his dancing.

Gaara eyed him impassively, his previous persona bubbling up over the insane one within. "Have you given up to feed mother your blood?" he asked.

"No." Neji said. "I'm finishing this." With that, and another minor teleportation jutsu, Neji appeared on the wall, adhering to it with chakra. Pumping chakra into his legs, he began rushing down the wall, towards Gaara. The sand nin watched, still impassive. As Neji reached the bottom of the wall, he continued his charge, gaining speed rapidly.

'NOW!' he thought, and he jumped into midair. His momentum carried him rapidly towards the sand nin, as Neji curled up into a ball. Quickly, he began spinning and channeling all of his chakra into one last kaiten. "**_Omoikaiten! _**(Massive Whirl)" he screamed, and the familiar blue glow of kaiten surrounded him, barreling down at Gaara. The sand rose up to meet him, and an explosion sounded out.

With mouths gaping, every single spectator, from Lee to the disguised Orochimaru, watched the massive blue kaiten versus the grainy brown sand. Neji's final attack drilled straight through the first layer of Gaara's absolute defense, and smashed into the ninja himself. The second explosion sent sand and blood flying across the room, spattering the walls.

When the dust cleared, Neji was panting on the floor. Gaara was lying against the wall, blood streaming from his mouth. But he could still stand. The diabolical sand ninja stood up heavily, and drew his arm back to blast the prone ninja with sand. With a clenched fist, Neji screamed as the sand tightened around his arms. "You seem proud of these arms." Gaara said, insanity bubbling up into his voice. "I believe that pride is a downfall." With a snapping sound, Neji's arms broke, and the scream of pain resounded throughout the arena.

Hayate hastily jumped down. "Winner: Sabaku no Gaara!" The pronouncement was met with nothing as almost all of the leaf ninja had gathered around Neji, helping him to the stretcher.

"You did good, Nej." Naruto whispered into his ears. "Good fight." He looked around from side to side, then whispered something into Neji's ear. "Hizashi will be very proud of you." With a grin, Neji fell into unconciousness.

Five minutes later, everyone was back on the stands. Gaara was acting like nothing had happened, but he looked back to meet Naruto's fiery gaze. The coldness within those green eyes shocked Naruto, but he sent a message back through his violet stare: _When we fight, your ass is mine_.

The board began beeping, and everyone looked up to see what the pronouncement for the next fight was.

**Yamanaka Ino vs. Tsuchi Kin**

Momentarily, the two were on the floor, preparing to fight. Hayate raised his hand once again. "Eight Fight: Tsuchi Kin vs. Yamanaka Ino! HAJIME!" With that, the two charged at each other, moving as fast as possible.

Temari, watching the fight, was distracted when the sound Jounin, in reality Orochimaru, walked up silently behind her. "You have new orders." He whispered.

"Why aren't you talking to Baki-sensei then, Oto ni-san?"

"Oh, these orders aren't for everyone. Only for you."

Temari felt her mouth dry. Personal orders were only given to the best ninja, and in a mission as important as this, could be crucial. If she accomplished them, she could expect to be well rewarded. If she failed, her head would be decorating a pike outside of Suna. "Please relay them."

"After these preliminary rounds are over, there will be a one month break between now and the finals. In that time, between training yourself and planning for the attack, you shall accompany Uzumaki Naruto. You will befriend him, learn about him, and if possible, seduce him."

Temari blanched. Seduction missions were one thing the Kazekage's daughter never expected to get. "… but-"

"Declining this double mission is not allowed. This has been given to me directly by Kazekage-sama himself, and you will do it."

With a sigh, Temari felt her protests draining out of her. If her father truly had ordered this, she had no choice other then to obey. And if she declined anyway, or failed… she didn't want to think of the consequences. "Yes, Oto-san. I shall do as Kazekage-sama commands."

Behind his Sound Jounin disguise, Orochimaru grinned. If his plan succeeded, everything would be solved. 'Ku Ku Ku, Naruto-kun will fall in love with the lovely Desert Rose, then have his heart broken when she turns on him. That will push him to insanity, and then he will give in to the power of my curse mark!'

Temari's attention was snapped back to the field by the call of "Winner: Tsuchi Kin!" The blonde girl was struggling to get up, but was being assisted by the teen she had just been ordered to seduce. She saw the look Naruto gave Ino, full of love, concern, and tenderness. She had seen him look at the weapon mistress that way as well. 'This is going to be difficult.' She thought.

As Naruto helped Ino back up to the stands, more beeping was heard as the board determined who the next fight was going to be. Finally, it stopped.

**Sabaku no Kankurou vs. Kinuta Dosu**

With a jump, Kankurou and Dosu both walked to the center of the arena. "Good thing you're already wrapped in bandages." Kankurou jibed. "You're going to need them. Sorry about this though. It's nothing personal, but like I say, never settle for second best."

The sound nin looked at Kankurou through his one eye. "You know I always say? Always kill the mouthy one."

Kankurou grinned. "A good saying! I'll cut your head off, and make it a puppet to tell it to me over and over again."

Hearing the death threats being exchanged, Hayate took in a breath. "Ninth Fight! Sabaku no Kankurou vs. Kinuta Dosu! Hajime!"

Dosu wasted no time, and sprinted at Kankurou. "You're pathetic." He said. "All I have to do is this!" With that, he swung the device on his arm at Kankurou. HARD. "Feeling dizzy yet? Fighting to stay standing? I've just sent paralyzing sound waves directly into your ears, causing pain beyond comprehension. Now all I have to do is finish you off."

But his next strike was stopped, as a strong wooden hand grabbed Dosu's sound amplifier. "And you call me mouthy." Kankurou muttered.

"B-But you should be dying!" Dosu said, as if saying it would make it come true.

"If that was me, it would be." 'Kankurou' said. Then the illusion on it disappeared, leaving a man made of wood, with rolling mechanical eyes, a long mane of hair, and blades everywhere. Behind the puppet, the bundle of bandages unwrapped, revealing the actual Kankurou. The puppet wasted no time in 'hugging' the bandaged sound ninja. The strength caused bones to crack.

"Now, now, isn't this fun." Kankurou said dryly. With a snap of his fingers, some blades extended from out of the puppet, piercing deep into the body of Dosu. An unearthly scream flew out of his covered mouth.

Quickly, Hayate called the fight. Kankurou shrugged. "Well, his head would suck as a puppet anyway. With another snap of his fingers, the puppet went limp, and Kankurou deftly wrapped it away.

Shikamaru, staring at Kankurou when he rejoined the calm Gaara and Temari (who was frowning in thought), thought 'The Sand ninja… are just plain scary.'

"This next fight will be the last one, and it will also determine who gets the by into the final round!" Hayate announced. On cue, the board started beeping for the final time. Everyone looked up, to see the names already there.

**Hyuuga Hinata vs. Aburame Shino**

The silent Shino looked over at Hinata. She was pale, understandably so, having to fight her own teammate, and the most creepy one at that. But there was something more to it then that… Shino's keen eyes detected the residue of tears, and a small puddle of dried vomit behind her. He knew those signs.

If this had been announced before Neji's fight, Hinata would be up and willing, happy to fight Shino. But now, after her cousin (who was like a brother to her) had been carted away on a stretcher, she was in no condition to fight. Shino often looked at Hinata as if she were a younger sister, and he put her welfare before his own. With that in mind, there was only one thing he could do.

"I forfeit." Shino stated calmly. His father would be angry at first, but when he heard about the circumstances, would be very proud of him. Everyone stared at the bug user, different emotions on all of their faces.

Kurenai-sensei was showing a type of pride, with Hinata herself looking both disturbed and grateful. The rest of the rookie gennin were piecing together exactly why Shino had done that, and most favored him with a nod. Naruto clapped him on the shoulder, a touch Shino doubted he would have accepted from many others.

Hayate shook his head. "That brings the prelims to an end! Will all winners come down here!" Slowly, ten gennin walked down to the arena. Hayate, frowning while he counted, remembered that the Uchiha would be with Kakashi, getting his curse mark sealed. Slowly, the sickly Jounin took in the eleven finalists.

Rock Lee, winning a very strange match against Akamichi Chouji.

Hyuuga Hanabi, easily destroying Tsurugi Misumi.

Uzumaki Naruto, defeating Abumi Zaku despite having an obvious handicap.

Uchiha Sasuke, currently getting sealed, defeating Akado Yoroi with an innovative combination.

Sabaku no Temari, who had intimidated Haruno Sakura into forfeiting.

Shinotama Ten-Ten, knocking out Inuzuka Kiba with chakra-powered sleeping gas.

Sabaku no Gaara, emerging over Hyuuga Neji in a hard-fought battle.

Tsuchi Kin, sound's lone representative, beating Yamanaka Ino with exceptionally strong genjutsu.

Sabaku no Kankurou, winning a battle of the sadists over Kinuta Dosu.

Hyuuga Hinata beating her own teammate, Aburame Shino by forfeit when he saw her sickly condition.

Finally, Nara Shikamaru, getting the by to the final round.

"Now, the finals of the third round will be held in exactly one month. That will give you time to prepare against whoever your opponent will be. We will find out who that is now, as you pick papers from the box Anko-san has." Anko flourished a box she had, which everyone drew a number out of.

When all numbers were taken, and returned to the box, the matchups were decided and posted. They made Naruto's mouth drop, and he began sweating profusely.

**Tsuchi Kin vs. Hyuuga Hanabi**

**Uchiha Sasuke vs. Rock Lee**

**Sabaku no Kankurou vs. Nara Shikamaru**

**Sabaku no Gaara- by**

**Hyuuga Hinata vs. Sabaku no Temari**

But it was the final match that made Naruto's blood run cold.

**Uzumaki Naruto vs. Shinkotama Ten-Ten

* * *

**

A/N: If you saw that coming, tell me. I need to figure out what I did to give it away. So next chapter is training, should reveal why the hell Tsunade's in Konoha, the fallout from Neji/Gaara, and much much more. I'll try to have it out by Christmas Time, but I make no promises. As you can see, Temari won the poll by two votes!

Remember, to vote for 'All for One' in the NFAs, it's www(dot)narutofic(dot)org, then scroll down untill you see the huge word that says VOTE.

Oh, and if you can guess where the Dosu/Kankurou interaction came from, I'll give you a cookie!

See ya next chapter!

PS: I saw this done in a couple other stories, and it seems like fun.

All for One  
Words: 81138  
Chapters: 20  
Reviews: 2053  
Hits: 299947  
C2s: 144  
Favs: 781  
Alerts: 918


	22. Preparations

A/N: Well, sorry for the delay. I've got loads going on right now. This chapter should shed some light on a couple mysteries, and wrap up some loose ends.

Oh, and this story placed second in the TONFA awards, right behind two stories that tied. Thanks for voting!

Happy New Year!

* * *

White. 

Neji was really beginning to hate the color white. It was all he had seen since he had been brought to this hospital. Well, actually, White was better then red. Red was the color his clothes had turned when Gaara was finished with him, leaving the Hyuuga Prodigy drenched in his own blood. And before that, the color was brown, brown as the sand that was coming to destroy him.

'I'm starting to wish I was colorblind.' He thought. As soon as the thought crossed his mind, there was a knock on the door. "You may enter." He spoke out.

The door swung open, and Gai-sensei walked in. That was odd, in and of itself. Gai-sensei never walked anywhere if he could help it. Since he ran, jumped, sprinted, all while screaming about the flames of youth at the top of his lungs. He _never _just walked anywhere. "Ohayo, Neji-kun." He said, even his usual greeting lacking its passion and exuberance.

"Gai-sensei, what's the problem?" Neji asked, concern apparent in his usual monotone voice.

Gai cleared his throat, eyes darting from side to side, as if to find someway out. "Well, Neji-kun, the medic-nins said that you'll need surgery, if you want any hope of being active again."

"I could have figured that out for myself. Now tell me what the problem is."

"Well, they're not entirely _sure _how to proceed. So it'll take some time to even figure out what to do to help your arms. Then they will have to find someone skilled enough to perform it. Then will be the actual surgery, then rehab for you. So, overall, you will be without your arms for…" Gai took a deep breath, then rushed the next part out. "anywherefromfourmonthstoayear."

"Say that again, but slower."

"You will be without the use of your arms for anywhere from four months to a year." Gai said morosely. Neji sighed, and leaned back in his bed.

"That's what I thought you said." He stated, staring at the pure white ceiling. 'Yup, I really hate color. Or the absence of.'

* * *

As Gai talked with Neji, Naruto was having a discussion he'd really not have with Ten-Ten. The two lovers were seated in their favorite seats at Ichiraku, staring at bowls of pork ramen. Naruto finally broke the silence. "So… this is it? We won't be able to see each other for the next month?" 

Ten-Ten let out a sigh. "Yeah. You'll be training with Tsunade-sama and whatever clan head wants to help you, I'll be with Shizune-san, Gai-sensei, and Tou-san. If we spend anytime together, we'll wind up talking about training. And if we talk about training, that'll give one of us an unfair advantage."

Naruto banged a fist onto the counter. "So why don't we just avoid talking about training?!"

Another sigh came out of the weapon mistresses mouth. "Naruto-kun, what did you do before you came to talk with me today?"

"Oh, I trained by hitting the training log… oh. I see. That's pretty much all we do: train and spend time with each other."

"Yeah. And don't worry, this is as hard on me as it is on you." The two stared at each other for a moment. Then with a sudden movement, Ten-Ten was right next to Naruto. "Now just let me say goodbye…" she purred into his ear. In a flash, Naruto had the girl in his arms, and was running towards his home.

Sitting in a corner, unnoticed by the retreating couple, a certain blonde sand-nin watched them go. 'I'll get started tomorrow.' Temari thought, pangs of regret already twanging inside of her.

* * *

The next morning, Naruto was up and at a training ground, waiting for his new sensei. He glanced up at the sun. 'Hm, a little after seven. She should be here anytime now.' As soon as he thought that, his instincts screamed at him to move. He jumped to the left, which turned out to be a wise decision, as a chakra-charged fist impacted the area he had just been sitting on. 

With a quick glance at the resulting crater, Naruto entered a defensive stance. But to his surprise, Tsunade just stood there, not following up her attack. She cocked one eyebrow. "So, what've we learned?" she asked.

Naruto thought for a second. "Always trust your instincts?"

"Correct. If you take one thing out of this training session, take that. No matter how strong you get, how good your control is, or what techniques you learn, if you don't trust your instincts, your enemies will find you and kill you." Naruto nodded his understanding. "Now, enough playing around!"

With that, Tsunade charged. Naruto managed a good defense, but was never actually able to launch any attacks of his own. As they fought, Tsunade yelled out the same question over and over again. "What've you learned now?"

"Always keep my opponent on the defensive!"

"What've you learned now?"

"Remember the terrain you fight on!" he said as he almost tripped over a rabbit hole.

"How about now?"

"It's better to dodge then block!"

Then just like that, Tsunade stopped her barrage. "Ok, I think I've beaten enough strategy into you today. Now, let's work on other things."

Then, in a change of pace, the two sat down. Tsunade's finger glowed blue, and a flame balance on the tip of her finger. With a thought the flame began dancing from finger to finger, never once touching flesh and never ceasing in this movement. "Naruto, when you manage to pull this off, you have complete control of your chakra. Try it."

Taken aback by the sudden order, Naruto focused. A huge ball of fire erupted over his palm, and he dropped it with a yelp. Tsunade sighed. "Too much output. Nice try though." The next time, a spark appeared, then fizzled out.

"Too little output. What have those Hyuugas been teaching you?!"

By the end of the training session, Naruto was exhausted. '_Dude,_' Inner Naruto said. '_What'd you expect? Water-Walking in a hot spring while an old guy giggled at naked ladies?' _

"You did a good job today, Gaki. Better then I thought you did. Right now, we'll be focusing on chakra control. You won't be able to master the super-strength without absolutely perfect control. Right now, yours is at 'great for anyone else, but sucky for me'. Now go… do... whatever it is you do when you're not training." With that, the blonde sannin bounded off into the trees.

As she vanished into the afternoon sunlight, Naruto ran in the opposite direction- towards Ichiraku. He quickly sat and ordered food, his ramen (chicken today) appeared almost as soon he arrived. But he had only finished two bowls when he was joined. A glance to his left showed that it was the pig-tailed sand kunoichi from the other day. Naruto grunted a greeting.

"Well, what's your problem?" Temari asked in a friendly voice. Naruto looked at her in confusion.

"Um, I don't think I have a problem."

"Well, it's obvious that you do. You seem… quieter then you were before, almost as if something is… missing."

Naruto gaped at her. Even though he hadn't known it was there, he did indeed have a problem: lack of Ten-Ten. Sure, it had only been one day, and sure, he had other girlfriends, but they were each different. Haku was the one who was sweet and caring. Ino was the lustful one, always full of animalistic ferocity. But Ten-Ten, she was the passionate one. Everything they did was full of passion, whether it be talking or making love.

"Now that you mention it, there is one thing. My girlfriend and I have been separated for a month, while we both train for the exams."

Temari pretended to think, as if remembering something. "Your girlfriend… was that the one with buns or the blonde one?"

Naruto laughed. He always got a charge out of the first meeting people had with his odd relationship. "Both actually, plus one more, but it's the one with buns, Ten-Ten, that I have to be apart from."

Despite herself, Temari was slightly intrigued. "Three girls?"

With a chuckle, Naruto began explaining his relationship. After he was through, Temari was gaping at him. 'What kind of man have they ordered me to seduce!?' she thought. The two talked for a little bit more, but were then interrupted by a short, stooped man.

"Naruto-sama," the man rasped out. "Torahi-sama and Ryusha-sama have ordered you to attend them immediately." Naruto shook his head, murmured something about knowing it was coming, then turned to Temari.

"Well, I'm Naruto, in case you didn't know, and I've got places to go right now. Maybe we can talk again sometime…" he trailed off, realizing she had never introduced herself.

"Temari." She supplied.

* * *

Five minutes after his discussion with Temari, Naruto was deep in the bowls of the Mitarashi compound, standing before one set of his foster parents. "Well," Torahi said, in a hard voice. "Out with it. Why did you take a missing nin under your wing and hide him from our protection." 

Naruto glared back, a hard edge coming into his voice now as well. "You mean Zabuza? Who, by the way, is now Uzumaki Zabuza, holder of the Uzumaki seat of the council? As to why I took him in, that is simple: he needed me to."

"Needed you to?! He should have been executed the very moment he set foot in Konoha!"

"Why?"

"Because he deserted our clan! Our heritage! He sold our secrets to the enemy! For that, there is no proper price save death!"

"He ran away to stop himself from being sacrificed! He always stayed true to his heritage, going so far as to swear never to hurt a Mitarashi! No one knows the secrets of our clan, so he obviously told no one!"

Torahi shook his head. "There is no reasoning with you now. I call the Dragon God's Judgment to decide what a suitable punishment should be!"

At that, Naruto blanched. The Dragon God's Judgment was an ancient ritual, in which the ten most powerful Mitarashi pooled together to summon the four royal dragons: Ragnarok, the king. Shainingu, the Prince. Tiamat, the Queen. Yokori, the princess. Then the four deliberated on the offender, and dealt out an appropriate punishment. Usually, it was a ritual only to be used in dire emergencies. The last time it was used was during the war with stone, to discover whether a Mitarashi had sold information to the enemy. The result was the offender being torn limb-from-limb.

As Torahi spoke the words, a gong rang out through out the household. Upon hearing the noise, eight people within the compound jumped, and headed towards the central room. Soon, Eleven Members of the Mitarashi Clan (including Naruto) were gathered. Torahi cut his hand, then let a drop of blood go into a small pot.

Ryusha, hesitantly, added her own to the blood. Anko, shaking mildly, added a small bit of her own. One by one, the remain eight added their own blood the small black pot, which was now beginning to hiss slightly. As soon as the final one added their blood, Torahi tipped the pot over, leaving a small puddle of blood in the middle of the room. He went into familiar handseals, then thrust his palm into the middle of the concoction. "**_Kuchyose no Jutsu! _**(Summoning Technique)" he yelled.

A gigantic plume of smoke erupted, and when it cleared, four reptiles stood there. Yokori, with her sunlight-colored scales, shook her head and looked around. "Well, since we're so small, I'd have to say that it's time for another trial." Indeed, the four dragons had somehow been downsized to fit in the room.

Shainingu moaned. "Who's the accused?" The normally fun-loving dragon moaned out. He hated these things.

Tiamat, her color being bright red, reached over and cuffed her son. "Behave yourself!" she muttered.

The final dragon, Ragnarok, shook his twilight-colored head. "Torahi, why have you called us?"

Torahi sketched a quick bow. "I apologize for the summoning, Ragnarok-sama, but it is time for Dragon God's Judgement. The Accused, one Mitarashi Naruto, has harbored a missing nin, one Mitarashi Zabuza from our judgement. We ask for your wisdom in this situation."

The four dragons turned their reptilian eyes on Naruto. But before any of them could say anything, the somber mood was quickly destroyed. Shainingu's face let out an expression of joy. "Naru, Naru! How come you haven't called me out to play recently! Why don't you? Huh? Huh? Huh?"

Ragnarok bit back a chuckle, weird for a dragon. "Shain, I'm guessing it was because he's very busy, with being on trial and everything."

With those words from the dragon king, the four dragons stood there as Torahi presented his case. He concluded with, "I only ask for censure in this matter. Nothing permanent or painful, but only a minor punishment. After all, he is my son, and I wish only to discipline him."

As soon as Torahi had finished, Naruto stoop up to present his own defense. He took great care in emphasizing why Zabuza had run away in the first place, and the reasons that he had saved the new Uzumaki. As he wound down, the four dragons nodded and conferred with each other.

Soon, they were done. But instead of addressing the case, Ragnarok turned to Torahi. "Torahi, there are many laws governing your clan. Among them is the law of clan leadership. Could you please recite it for me?"

Wasting no time, Torahi reeled off, "The leadership of the Mitarashi clan may only change hands under four circumstances. The first, when the leader himself chooses to pass it on. The second, when the leader is unfit to rule, stated by unanimous decision by the rest of the clan member, he may be ousted .The third, when the clan leader dies, a new one is selected by the council of elders from one not of their number. The final, when someone summons the king of dragons by himself, is immediately invested with clan leadership, with the previous leader acting as advisor."

"Precisely. Now, kindly watch this." With a deep inhalation, Ragnarok shot out a cloud of mist from his nostrils. But within the mist, scenes were played.

_Naruto snarled again. "**I don't have time for this!**" He made some seals. "**Kuchyose no Jutsu! **(Summoning technique)" he cried as he bit his thumb and pounded it into the ground. The familiar plume of smoke arose, but Gai frowned. This cloud was far too big for Shainingu, and he was the strongest that Naruto could summon._

_The dragon that emerged was not Shainingu. It was twice his size, and instead of silver shading to blue, it was black shading to red. It was so large that parts of it hung off the bridge, and it loomed over the advancing mercenaries. "Who calls Ragnarok, King of Dragons?" it enquired._

"_**I, Uzumaki Naruto, have summoned you.**"_

As the scene finished, the cloud disappeared. As it dissipated, so did the muscle control of most of the jaws of the Mitarashi. All except Naruto, who looked embarrassed, and Anko, who looked upon the scene with pride. "By the clan laws," Ragnarok stated, "Mitarashi Naruto is now the rightful ruler of the Mitarashi clan, with Mitarashi Torahi as his primary advisor." Then Ragnarok did something never before recorded in Mitarashi history: he gave Naruto a small nod, as if between equals. "I look forward to working with you, Clan Chief." With that, the four dragons dissipated. As the smoke vanished, all eyes found their way to Naruto.

"What?" he said.

* * *

After quickly dismissing all charges against him, Naruto threw himself into his training for days. His chakra control, already thought exceptional, jumped by leaps and bounds. When no one was around, he worked on summoning up Kyuubi's chakra, wanting to summon Ragnarok, but knowing he would only respond to the mixture of Naruto and Kyuubi's chakra. During one such occasion, he realized something. 

"You can't summon, can you?" he asked his bandaged bodyguard one day.

"No, I left before I was given a contract." Zabuza responded.

Before Zabuza could say 'Demon of the Mist', he had signed a dragon contract, was out on the training field, and had channeled all of his available chakra into a summoning technique. With a bite on his thumb and a thrust to the ground, the familiar plume of smoke erupted. When it cleared, before him was a huge, somewhat familiar dragon.

"Hi!" the dragon yelled. "I'm Yokori, princess of dragons! Don't you think I look pretty?" She struck a pose, obviously meant to be alluring. Zabuza turned to the smirking Naruto.

"Can I get a redo? She doesn't match my color scheme." As Yokori began to yell, Naruto jumped away, not wanting to get in between their bonding time.

Naruto's time passed like that. He trained with Tsunade in the morning, had lunch with Temari at Ichiraku, trained with Zabuza in the afternoon, the spent the evening learning how to manage clans from Torahi, who surprisingly enough, wasn't angry at all. When asked about it, he said "You're about to fight an enemy no one can kill- paperwork."

* * *

Tsunade's back hit the mattress with a sigh. 'The kid made some progress today, more then I expected. But I shouldn't have to do this at all. Damn pervert.' 

_As Tsunade and Shizune (With a pig!) sat down in their hotel room, the doorbell rang. "Shizune, get that." Tsunade commanded, and the obedient apprentice shot towards the door. Moments later, she came back with a letter._

"_Mail for you." She said. "The man was told to 'deliver that to the lady with the boobs that make up half of her body'."_

_Tsunade groaned. Only one man would ever address her like that. She opened Jiraya's letter, and scanned it._

_Hime-chan,_

_Good, I hoped my address system worked. If you got this, then I'm currently out plugging leaks in my spy network. But that's not why I wrote you. You see, Sarutobi-sama has asked me to go back to the village, something about helping a brat he likes. I can't. My network is on the verge of something big. But would you go? You'd be a big help._

_-Your favorite pervert_

_Tsunade sighed. She hated the village, but the old man had never asked her for a thing in her life before. He had taken her in, raised her, trained her, and made her worthy of being one of the legendary Sannin._

_"Shizune, in the morning, we're heading for the village."_

_

* * *

_

A/N: Well, I hope that answers some of your burning questions. I'll update this soon, I promise. Remember to R&R.

See you later. Happy New Year!


	23. The Start of the Finals

A/N: as one perceptive Reviewer noticed, I've been having trouble uploading. This chapter has been done since Wensday, and I just couldn't post it. But he then suggested to export a previous chapter, and change the text. After a moment of feeling very stupid, I did exactly that. Thus, we have a new chapter.

The plagurizer situation has been resolved. They deleted the story before the admins could do a thing, so they still have an account. I have him on author alert so I'll know if he tries anything again. My thanks to everyone who sent me a message/review, reported the dude, or any combination of the two. I truly have the best fans/reviewers around.

Ok, now I feel guilty. You see, this chapter is not at all up to my usual standards. It's also mostly filler. Chap 24 will be so much better, I promise. I also encourage everyone who likes Naruto/Bleach to read my other story, Shrouded Orange. It's a crossover that's been getting mostly rave reviews.

So here we go!

* * *

Naruto groaned as he sat up. 'What'd I break this time?' the clan scion thought. Looking closely at his body, he spotted the problem. 'My foot should not be pointing at that angle.' He thought, even his thoughts taking on a drawling monotone. Green chakra pulsed around his hand, and he moved it down toward the obviously broken foot. A few seconds later, Naruto flexed his foot, good as new. "Damn month from hell…" he grumbled. 

Sure enough, the training month was coming to a close. And it had indeed been a month from Hell. Tsunade had been a violent task-mistress, never letting up or giving mercy. But Naruto had learned a lot from her. He could heal at a basic medic level, something which he was still shocked about. People took years to train to become Medic-Nin, and he'd done it in about a month!

He'd signed the slug contract, something which still disgusted him. The slugs were gross and slimy, but surprisingly useful. They were excellent spies, and hard to kill unless you happened to have any salt on you. But that wasn't the thing Naruto was happiest about in his training.

Simply put, he was now a destroyer. His Akamichi bloodline had already given him boosted strength.With Tsunade's chakra-enhanced strength teachings, he could destroy an average two-story house with two punches, a kick, and a very deep breath.

But Tsunade's teachings, while very useful, weren't the only things that Naruto had managed to get under his belt this month. In fact, it had all stemmed from a gift made to him in the middle of the month: 12 summoning contracts. Apparently, he'd been proven an adult in the eyes of the clan elders, and each of them had made him a small copy of their summoning contract for him.

From the Mitarashi, Naruto already had the dragons. Tsunade had given him the slugs. But Naruto had gained twelve more kinds of beasts to call upon. From the Sarutobi came the monkeys. The boars came from the Akamichi, and the Hatake had provided the dogs. The wolves came from the Inuzuka, and the eagles from the Hyuuga. Itachi had given him the gift of the panther, the animal of the Uchiha. The Nara provided a stag contract, while their partners in the Yamanaka came up with the Puma.

The Haruno, not to be left out, chimed in with their donation of the Jackal. The bug masters of the Aburame came up with a veritable menagerie of insects from their one contract. The Yuuhi came up with the peacock. Finally, the Shinkotama provided the Tigers, the real kings of the jungle.

But those gifts brought up something within Naruto: a desire to master himself. For it was true: he had a basic grasp of all his bloodlines, but couldn't completely master any of them. With a growl, Naruto grabbed a single contract, signed it, and set to work on mastering the one bloodline it represented.

* * *

But the fates had a cruel surprise prepared for Naruto. It was giant, red, and had many tails. Nine to be exact. And in the middle of his training, it made contact. "**_So, my jailor, how're you doing today?_**" it growled. Naruto jumped in surprise. 

"Who the hell said that?!"

"**_Surely you haven't forgotten about me, the ever-so humble Kyuubi no Kitsune, Have you?_**" the voice growled. "**_I would say that I would devour you for that, but I've been planning on doing that anyway the moment I get free… bastard._**"

"Ok… hearing voices is not good…"

"**_You mean you don't know?!_**" Kyuubi growled. "**_I swore you knew that I was inside you…_**"

Oh, I know that Kyuubi's in there, but how the hell can you talk to me!?"

"**_Forgotten already…_**"

_But the cursed seal had some adverse effects on Naruto. As the amazed snake sannin looked on, parts of Naruto began to glow white. The first was his stomach, where Orochimaru had just placed the Goten Fuu. It burned white, and disappeared. His arm was next, as every single seal holding his bloodlines back disintegrated, freeing them for the first time since he was six. Finally, the Yondaime's seal, the seal that imprisoned the demon Kyuubi, began to break. Well, part of it anyway. The central spiral burned white and shattered, leaving the rest intact. All the while, Naruto screamed in agony until his lungs ran out of air, when his scream turned silent. _

'Oh, yeah.' Naruto thought. 'So that's what this mark did to my seal.'

"**_It destroyed the part that had been suppressing my consciousness from reaching yours. Now, we have two roads. One, is I could whisper to you incessantly for a while, and hope it'll drive you crazy. But I'd rather not do that, as that would take a lot of effort. I don't want to do so much right now. The second option is that we could strike a deal._**"

'A deal?' Naruto thought. 'What kind of deal?'

"**_You've already received a small portion of my help. Do you remember when you were having your little metal conflict? I helped you there. You would have gone insane if I hadn't been there to help. And that leads us to our deal. You talk to me occasionally, and do one other thing later, and in exchange, I'll protect your mind, not drive you insane, and loan you my chakra occasionally." _**

'What other thing? I don't like agreeing to things without all details stated.'

Kyuubi let out a giant mental sigh. "**_Fine. I'm going to get out of here eventually. We both know that. It won't be for a while, but I'm going to get out. After that, the first thing I'm going to do is go straight for what I started, and destroy Konoha. When I get out… I want you to be the first one I fight._**"

'…'

"**_Do we have a deal?_**"

'Yes, we do.'

And that was how Naruto struck a literal deal with a demon. But it was actually a good thing that he had. Kyuubi had proven to be a wealth of information about all the odd things that had been going on in his life. Kyuubi had always given him the ability to heal fast. Kyuubi had given him enhanced senses, which had later been honed more by the Inuzuka bloodline. And Kyuubi was the reason he had been able to summon Ragnarok, king of the dragons. When Kyuubi's chakra mixed with Naruto's own, it created a totally new one, one that wasn't attuned at all to any dragon, unlike Naruto's by itself. Kyuubi's chakra was responsible for all the odd things that had happened in Wave Country: Ragnarok, Kouken becoming a Cerberus, the centipedes morphing into Dragon Flies, all of it!

* * *

'Well, enough reminiscing.' Naruto thought. 'Let's get cracking!'

"**_About time._**" Kyuubi growled. Some bugs chattered in agreement, Kouken howled, and Inner Naruto yelled "_HELL YEAH!_". Naruto took a few seconds to ponder how crowded his head was before he jumped from his bed down to his floor, and headed off towards the stadium. Ibiki, still sitting in his comfortable chair, waved absent-mindedly as he poured over yet another scroll, this one with the dubious title of 'Bleach: Removing evidence and one drop at a time!'

As Naruto tore out of the house, he almost ran smack into someone who'd been walking up the path to the door. Luckily, with some quick breaks (and a chakra assist), Naruto skidded to a halt centimeters in front of her. "Hi, Temari-chan!" he said in a loud, sing-song voice.

"Hey, Naru-kun!" she said loudly, and surprisingly (to her) genuine smile in her voice. During the last month, Naruto had been berfet of his usual feminine companions, as Haku was busy with work, and Ten-Ten was training, and Ino had somehow been roped into helping her mom with the flower shop. Temari hadn't quite filled the void, but she had made it much easier to bear. Somehow, she always ended up where he was, whether it be at the Ramen Stand, or at the training fields (though she left quickly as to not give herself an unfair advantage).

Temari's mind was full of inner turmoil. She had started off this mission with it being just that, a mission. It was a simple task that been assigned to her by her superiors to make the incoming invasion easier. And indeed, it had started off as a task, but it had evolved into so much more. Now, Temari couldn't wait for the part of her day she spent with Naruto. She daydreamed about him sometimes (though not during training, as the last time she'd done that, she'd almost decapitated Kankurou), and had started looking for him outside of the time she'd designated 'Naruto time'.

"So, want to walk down?" he asked. The blonde nodded, and the two strolled along the path, chatting amicably. Soon enough, their feet brought them to the competitor's entrance, and they stopped and faced each other. "So, good luck!" Naruto said.

Temari smiled, and it seemed to Naruto that the area around him lit up just a bit. "Naruto, we both know I don't need luck. Neither do you." With a small wave, she walked in. Naruto gazed after her for a second, shook his head clear, and ran after her into the stadium.

They were just in time, and they got in line quickly. Naruto glanced up and down the line, seeing the rest of the competitors. Gaara was still extremely… creepy. Temari was gorgeous, as always. Kin appeared to be in her own little world, and was picking her nails with a senbon. But Naruto could tell it was just an act, and she was more attuned to her environment then perhaps anyone else there.

The two Hyuuga sisters were standing, and chatting happily. It seemed that they were gossiping, as Hanabi mimed measuring something with her hands and Hinata turned bright red. Sasuke was standing, looking mildly detached from the world. 'Good, he showed up.' Naruto thought. 'Here, I thought he was going to try and make some big dramatic entrance a little too late. Good thing I made Kakashi-tou-san promise not to do that.'

Shikamaru, if it was possible, appeared to be sleeping while standing up. Kankurou had a small little puppet out, and was twisting it in odd directions that would have broken bones had it been real. And the last person was doing the exact same thing as Naruto: checking out the competition. Ten-Ten's eyes met Naruto's, and they exchanged small smiles.

The proctor jumped down. "Yo." He said. "I'm Genma, and I'll be the proctor for this part of the exam. Remember, you're representing yourself, your family, and your village here. So don't screw it up! Any questions?"

Naruto spoke up. "Where's Hayate?"

Suddenly, Genma looked nervous. "He's become… indisposed recently. Needless to say, he won't be able to proctor this part. Any others?" When no one else said anything, the man with the backwards bandana said "Hyuuga Hanabi, Tsuchi Kin, you'tr up first. Stay down here. Everyone else, head up to the observation area."

* * *

As Naruto stood up in the observation area, he was treated to a display that was as fast and brutal as it was graceful. Hanabi deflected Kin's well-thrown needles with occasional spurts of chakra, but never enough to be wasteful. Rather then getting frustrated like most opponents would do, the sound gennin retaliated with differing tactics, aiming her needles at Hanabi's feet.

The feet, as Naruto well knew, were the hardest place to channel chakra. Perhaps Kin thought that Hanabi wouldn't be able to deflect them, and the pain would distract Hanabi enough to open up a vital opening. But it showed the Kin had been underestimating her opponent. Maybe it's because Hanabi was younger then anyone else, but she was still the most talented Hyuuga in generations. Not only did the blue chakra flare up, stopping the needles, but Hanabi managed to angle them right back towards where they came from.

Kin went down hard, her own needles having been deflected into her hamstrings. Hanabi turned to the referee. "This fight is over." She said. "If you ask me to continue, I will be forced to do something in the vein of bashing her skull in, or perhaps stopping her heart." Hastily, Genma nodded.

"Winner: Hyuuga Hanabi!"

As polite applause sounded throughout the stadium, the Sandaime looked around. "The sound girl fought well, but was no match for the youngest Hyuuga. Her sensei should be proud of her. By the way, where is her sensei?"

The 'Kazekage' sitting next to him stiffened. 'Damn, I knew I forgot something.' Orochimaru thought. "That's a very good question, Hokage-san." He said. "I'll see if my shinobi can locate him, so that he may help tend to his student."

No, don't bother." The Hokage said. "I was merely curious."

* * *

Back down in the Arena, Hanabi had joined Gaara as the next to enter the second round. Gaara, there by virtue of his first round by, stared impassively at the rest of his competitors. But though his face was impassive, his mind was anything but, as a psychotic raccoon was whispering for blood and destruction in his mind.

Naruto watched Gaara's eyes, noticing the almost invisible twitches of the pupils. 'He's mentally fighting someone…' he thought. 'Or communicating with them. I know the look.' Indeed he did, having communicated with his own overcrowded head multiple times.

But Naruto was so busy watching Gaara that he totally missed most of the next match. When he glanced down, all he saw was Lee and Sasuke exchanging rapid fire blows. A split second later, it was over. Lee's foot caught Sasuke's head as Sasuke launched a fireball at point-blank range. Sasuke went down, hard. Lee, however, sprang right up and began dusting off his jumpsuit. Everyone stared at him. The prodigy had gone down, and this… eyebrow boy had one? But Gai's ramblings broke through the stares.

"LEE'S FLAMES OF YOUTH BURN HOTTER THEN ANY JUTSU!"

Naruto was so busy staring at his teacher that he missed the announcement of Lee as winner. But he definitely didn't miss the next signal. "Will Shinkotama TenTen and Uzumaki Naruto get down here?"

Temari did another one of those smiles that seemed to light up the room (though unlike Lee and Gai, it wasn't because of her teeth). "Have a good match, Naru-kun." She said. Naruto nodded, and jumped down.

The two faced off. "Don't go easy on me!" TenTen yelled.

"Wouldn't dream of it, Ten-chan." He replied.

"The third fight! Uzumaki Naruto vs. Shinotama TenTen! HAJIME!"

'**_If you didn't pick the right contract, you're boned, you know that._**' Kyuubi whispered.

'Shut up.' Naruto grunted mentally. 'You're not helping!'

* * *

A/N: And that was the end of the long, four month wait. Next chapter will cover Naruto vs. TenTen, a fight I've been planning since I started writing this story. I won't promise a speedy update, but I can tell you that one will come. 

See ya next chapter! And if you reviewed my little notice, make sure to review again. They all got deleted when I took down the notice (I think).


	24. Hiatus

I'm sorry to tell you guys that I'm officially putting All for One on Hiatus. I just have massive writters block for it, or my inspiration has dried out. If it's the latter, you should receive a notice of abandonment later.

But for now, All for One is on Hiatus. Shrouded Orange is still being worked on, and 3/4 of the chapter is done and availible elsewhere. I have some new wicked projects I've been thinking of, and I'm currently working on my Dot Hack fanfic.

Hoping this isn't the last time I post in this story-

Vesvius B


End file.
